Science Alert Fungal infections are also adapting beyond the means of our medicine, causing a “silent pandemic” that needs to be addressed urgently, according to some researchers.
“The threat of fungal pathogens and antifungal resistance, even though it is a growing global issue, is being left out of the debate,” explains molecular biologist Norman van Rhijn from the University of Manchester in the UK.
This September, the United Nations is hosting a meeting in New York City on antimicrobial resistance, which includes discussions on resistant bacteria, fungi, viruses, or parasites.
Ahead of this event, van Rhijn and an international team of scientists are urging governments, the research community, and the pharmaceutical industry to “look beyond just bacteria.”
Fungal infections, they write in a correspondence for The Lancet, are left out of too many initiatives to tackle antimicrobial resistance.