United States: European experts predict rising temperatures will allow a lethal fungal infection to expand into uninfected regions across Europe and beyond.
The study reveals Aspergillus, a type of harmful mold that causes lung and breathing problems when infecting humans, poses a yearly threat to millions of individuals because rising temperatures allow this organism to move into new areas across Europe, Asia, and America.
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The world stands at a critical threshold, according to Norman van Rhijn, who serves as the Wellcome Trust research fellow at Manchester University, for the rise of fungal pathogens that can survive in various environmental settings, including domestic structures.
🚨THE FUNGUS THAT COULD KILL MILLIONS – AND YOU CAN’T EVEN SEE IT COMING
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 5, 2025
It’s real. It’s deadly. And it’s floating in the air around us.
A new study warns that a fungus called Aspergillus fumigatus is quietly spreading across the planet — and it could infect millions of… pic.twitter.com/sLSWOj5Dt5
Fungal Lung Disease Threatens Millions
Fungal infections will lead to millions of annual mortalities throughout the world, according to Mr Rhijn.
Lung disease ‘Aspergillosis’ occurs from spore-derived Aspergillus infections that can progress towards different parts of the human body.
According to Mr Van Rhijn, while speaking to the FT, “We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of lives and continental shifts in species distributions. In 50 years, where things grow and what you get infected by is going to be completely different.”
The industrial and food sector utilizes Aspergillus through fermentation processes to create soy sauce and sake, as independent.co.uk reported.
People with asthma, cystic fibrosis, or weakened immune systems are at the highest risk among those who breathe in the deadly fungal spores.
According to the FT, fungal research shows Aspergillus fumigatus could invade 77 percent more terrain across Europe in 2100 because of excessive fossil fuel consumption, potentially placing nine million Europeans at risk of infection.
Experts Warn of Pathogen Shift
Fungal growth at high temperatures in compost explains why Aspergillus fumigatus thrives within human body temperatures at 37C.
“Its lifestyle in the natural environment may have provided Aspergillus fumigatus with the fitness advantage needed to colonize human lungs,” according to Professor Elaine Bignell, co-director at the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at Exeter University, as independent.co.uk reported.