Fungal infections

2023: Global fungal infection deaths have doubled in 10 years

On January 14, 2024, British specialists from the University of Manchester released the results of a study according to which deaths from fungal infections on a global scale almost doubled in 10 years. The number of deaths by 2023 reached 3.8 million, while about a decade earlier this figure was estimated at 2 million.

The published data are based on the analysis of various documents and articles published from 2010 to 2023. In addition, 85 papers on the burden of disease in individual countries and in the world as a whole have been studied. Invasive fungal infections have been found to affect more than 6.55 million people worldwide every year. Among them are over 2.1 million cases of aspergillosis and 1.8 million cases of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, as well as 1.5 million people with candidiasis infection of the bloodstream or invasive candidiasis, 500 thousand with pneumocystis pneumonia and 194 thousand with cryptococcal meningitis.

In 10 years, deaths from fungal infections on a global scale have almost doubled

Fungal infections are estimated to account for about 6.8% of the world's total deaths. For comparison: coronary heart disease is the cause of 16% of deaths on a global scale. This is followed by a stroke with 11%, while smoking-related lung diseases account for 6% of the total number of deaths in the world.

Invasive forms of fungal infections often affect seriously ill patients and people with serious comorbidities associated with the immune system. People with cancer, HIV/AIDS, organ transplants, chronic respiratory diseases and post-primary TB infection are at greatest risk of contracting fungal infections. Fungal pathogens, as noted by the WHO, pose a serious threat to public health as they become more common and resistant to treatment.^[1]

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