How Crop Farming Could Breed Deadly Superbugs
The use of agricultural fungicides may be planting the seeds for a new global health threat
A woman puts on her gardening gloves and plunges her spade into the earth. As she digs and plants all afternoon, thousands of microscopic fungal spores are released from the soil and enter the air, where they enter her body through her nose and mouth and try to colonize her organs. If the spores succeed, an infection will take hold in her lungs. Depending on the woman’s health, she may have a 25% to 90% chance of dying.
This isn’t science fiction; this is normal life for every human being on earth. Scientists estimate we inhale between one and 10 spores with every breath. Luckily for most of us, our immune system makes quick work of the spores, neutralizing threats, and inhibiting the growth of dangerous fungus in our nasal passages and lungs.
But not everyone has a healthy immune system. If those spores do take hold, there are only 10 medicines that doctors can use to fight fungal infections, and not all of them are safe or appropriate for every case. And now, scientists around the world are sounding the alarm that five of those medicines — the first-line drug treatment for fungal infections — have stopped working for some of the most serious infections.
