A leading microbiologist has warned of the increasing threat that killer fungi poses to humans and the environment.
New figures show that fungal diseases cause hundreds of thousands of deaths annually, following severe respiratory illness and infections of the blood stream.
And now an expert has warned that fungi kill more people than malaria and tuberculosis worldwide, and destroy a third of all food crops.
Speaking at Cardiff University’s Science in Public Health lecture series, Professor Rosemary Barnes from the School of Medicine’s Institute of Infection and Immunity said: ‘For most people, fungal disease means a bit of athlete’s foot or a manky-looking toe nail.
‘These maybe irritating and unsightly but fungi can do far worse.
‘Fungi kill more people than malaria and tuberculosis worldwide.
'They destroy about a third of all arable food crops.
Scientists have identified more than two million species of fungi, and they are considered to be among the most diverse and adaptable of all living organisms, predating humans by hundreds of millions of years.
Only 600 species are known to cause disease, but 99 per cent of these diseases can be attributed to 30 kinds of fungi.
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