A man in Kolkata caught a disease caused by a plant fungus, in what doctors believe is the first case of human infection by the microorganism. The doctors said this demonstrates the crossover of plant pathogen into humans when working in close contact with plant fungi.
A 61-year-old man visited the outpatient department of Consultant Apollo Multispeciality Hospitals in Kolkata with complaints of hoarseness of voice, cough, recurrent pharyngitis, fatigue, difficulty in swallowing and anorexia for three months, said doctors in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports.
He had no history of diabetes, HIV infection, renal or any chronic disease, immunosuppressive drug intake, or trauma. The patient, a plant mycologist by profession, was working with decaying material, mushrooms and various plant fungi for a long time as part of his research activities, doctors said.
While his chest X-ray showed a normal result, a CT scan of his neck showed the presence of a right paratracheal abscess.
Doctors drained out the pus and sent the pus sample for further tests. After multiple tests, the sample was sent to the “WHO collaborating Centre for Reference & Research on Fungi of Medical importance” where it identified as Chondrostereum purpureum.
After the pus was completely drained out, the patient was put on oral medicines for two months, After two years of follow-up, he was “absolutely fine and there is no evidence of recurrence”, doctors said in their report.
Chondrostereum purpureum is a plant fungus causing silver leaf disease of plants, particularly of the rose family. The disease is named so because of the progressive silvering of leaves on affected branches. Silver leaf disease is progressive and often fatal, doctors said in the report. Fungi also tend to only impact people who are immunocompromised.
People will a compromised immunity are most susceptible to fungal infections but healthy individuals are also frequently reported to have fungal infection.
“That animal and human diseases can be caused by plant pathogens is a new concept that raises serious questions regarding the propensity of such infection to occur in healthy as well as immunocompromised individuals,” the doctors said.
