The popular US show 'The Last of Us' revolved around a plot of people turning into zombies after contracting a fungus. The plot is fictitious, but it touched upon the dangerous nature of fungal diseases.
A rare-fungal disease called the Silver Leaf disease falls under the same 'dangerous' category. The fungal disease that can be deadly for plants was found in an Indian farmer from Kolkata.
The 61-year-old Indian mushroom farmer happens to be the first case of this disease in the world. According to reports, he has been facing flu-like symptoms for the last three months.
The farmer was sent to do some scans and the scans showed an infection in his windpipe. The doctors then removed the pus and sent the samples for investigation. The results showed that the farmer had the fungus plant pathogen Chondrostereum purpureum.
What's shocking is that the disease generally infects only plants. It causes the leaves of the plant to turn metallic before the plant slowly dies. The fact that an individual got infected with this disease raises serious concerns as it shows that the fungus can affect even healthy human beings.
It was reported that the farmer works with mushrooms, yeast, molds, decaying material, and various plant fungi. The farmer had symptoms of wheezing, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, and exhaustion.
The x-ray scans showed normal findings. However, the CT scan showed a paratracheal infection in his neck. The farmer was given two months of antifungal courses. The samples of the pus were transported to the WHO-collaborating facility, and the result showed Chondrostereum purpureum.
There is no documented proof of any case of this fungal disease. Researchers feel many such diseases can surface in the future.
(Input from various media sources)
