India has registered a global first of a plant fungus infecting human

India has registered a global first of a plant fungus infecting human

Subject: Environment

Section: Species  in news

Context: A 61-year-old man from Kolkata has been recently diagnosed with an infection from Chondrostereum Purpureum, a deadly plant fungus, in what is said to be the first such known case in the world.

More on the News:

• The fungus, Chondrostereum purpureum, is known to cause Silver leaf disease in plants, especially in species of rose families. However, there were no reported instances of this fungus infecting human beings from any part of the world.
• Of the hundreds of millions of fungal species, only a few cause infections in humans. This may be the start of a new phenomenon when plant fungus is adapting to invade human cells by evading the process of ‘phagocytosis’.
• The process, which means ‘cell eating’, happens when a cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a large particle, giving rise to an internal compartment called the ‘phagosome’. Organisms clean and defend themselves by this process.
• Rising temperature due to global warming is thought of as one of the major reasons for this new threat to human beings. Most fungi thrive in the range of 12°C to 30°C. However, many species are thermotolerant and can withstand high temperatures.
• Global warming means the narrowing of the thermal difference between the human body and its surroundings. Every degree increase in the global average temperature reduces this gradient by about five per cent. This increases the chance of the prevalence of fungal diseases.

Chondrostereum Purpureum:

• It is a plant fungus that causes silver leaf disease in plants, particularly those in the rose family.
• It is commonly found in temperate regions of the northern and southern hemispheres.
• It attacks most species of the rose family Rosaceae, particularly the genus Prunus.
• It is often found on old stumps and dead wood, but can also be a serious parasite of living trees.
• The disease is progressive and often fatal. Once inside the plant, it grows slowly and can remain latent for years before symptoms develop. Infected plants typically show a distinctive silvering or bluish-gray discoloration of the leaves and a decline in vigor, which can eventually lead to death.
• It is spread by airborne spores landing on freshly exposed sapwood.