Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and ecosystem resilience

Abstract

Emerging infections caused by fungi have become a widely recognized global phenomenon. Their notoriety stems from their causing plagues and famines, driving species extinctions, and the difficulty in treating human mycoses alongside the increase of their resistance to antifungal drugs. This special issue comprises a collection of articles resulting from a Royal Society discussion meeting examining why pathogenic fungi are causing more disease now than they did in the past, and how we can tackle this rapidly emerging threat to the health of plants and animals worldwide.This article is part of the themed issue 'Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and ecosystem resilience'.

Keywords: emerging disease; fungi; mycosis.

Figure 1.

(a) Yearly trends (1995–2015) of disease alerts in the ProMED database for pathogenic fungi of animals and plants. Data and analysis provided by Dr Larry Madoff and Dr Britta Lassman. (b) Emerging fungal diseases impact (i) wildlife (bat white-nose syndrome, photo: A. Hicks); (ii) humans (cryptococcal meningitis, photo: T. Bicanic) and (iii) plants (rice blast disease, photo: R. Mago).