A recent study revealed that a killer fungus that infects millions of individuals every year in hotter climates is likely to spread through Europe and into the U.K. with increasing heat.
Aspergillus species may lead to severe and fatal infections in humans, plants, and livestock is expected to spread northwards from Africa and South America into Europe and Asia.
It’s timeline to spread all across the globe will depend on how quickly the world phases out fossil fuels and other climate changing factors, the paper stated, while action will pose a significant threat to humans.
Factors promoting the growth of Aspergillus fungus
Global warming is also fueling up the spread of this fatal disease, such as those spread by mosquitoes, including dengue and malaria.
Fungi are also considered an increasing concern but remains unexplored largely. They reside in the air, soils and even inside human bodies and spread through spores in the air.
“Climate change will make these risks worse. To address these challenges, we must fill important research gaps,” Research manager at Wellcome Trust Viv Goosens told Sky News.
Another type of fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus, which causes infections in people suffering from respiratory disorders, including asthma and other more — could cover 77% more ground by 2100.
Aspergillus fumigatus causes aspergillosis, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control, which names it “the leading cause of invasive mould infections in people.”Individuals who have already contracted Aspergillus fumigatus are “33% more likely to die, according to the CDC.
“We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of lives, and continental shifts in species distributions,” lead author of the study and a research fellow at the University of Manchester, Dr. Norman van Rhijn, told FT.
Breathing in the spores causes Aspergillosis, a deadly lung disorder marked by headache, fatigue, coughing up blood, and, in some cases, can spread across the body.
