What If Fungi Win? – Casadevall Arturo (2024)

Could fungal pathogens outsmart humans before we find ways to combat them? Humans and fungi share nearly 50 percent of the same DNA, making it difficult to design drugs against the varieties that attack us. In an increasingly hot and wet world, fungi may be developing new ways to thrive, creating the potential for global outbreaks in a field where there is no vaccine and very few medicines, while some fungi are already resisting treatment. Bats, amphibians and essential crops are also increasingly threatened. Epidemiologist, professor and inventor Dr Arturo Casadevall explains how the fungal complications of the AIDS epidemic led to his work in medical mycology, how fungal infections during COVID-19 highlight the continuing danger to immunocompromised people, and how his Johns Hopkins University laboratory is seeking ways to counter these threats. The book explores both the beneficial roles of fungi and their damaging effects, covering blights, lichens, moulds, mushrooms, rusts and smuts. It also examines fungal growth after the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, Oregon’s vast Armillaria ostoyae organism, ergot and the Salem witch trials, fungi used for vegan leather and eco-friendly packaging, plastic-consuming fungi, and the need for greater funding to address fungal risks. The contents are in English.