Like a nightmarish, post-apocalyptic plot, rising temperatures are causing fungi to mutate in ways that not only make them hyper-infectious but drug-resistant, too.
This is deeply concerning as our world warms, Nanjing Medical University researcher Jingjing Huang and colleagues warn.
“The danger and importance of new fungal pathogens is believed to be seriously underestimated,” they write in their new paper.
“Temperature-dependent mutagenesis can enable the development of pan-drug resistance and hypervirulence in fungi, and support the idea that global warming can promote the evolution of new fungal pathogens.”
That’s insane… It’s already quite bad where I am but what you’re describing sounds like a nightmare comparatively. Is it a very humid environment?
Yes. Very humid. Our air is basically mold spores.
Could you use a dehumidifier with a filter?
It’s not the humidity inside. It’s the humidity outside. Every air quality report in this area has mold at the highest levels 8 months out of the year. It’s unavoidable. Our air quality is so bad that when you travel to other parts of the country you can feel a difference in your breathing. People I this area have a statistically higher rate of lung diseases.
Oh I see. That’s a hard problem to address.