Issue Agricultural antifungal use and warming spreading fungal infections

Summary

The report defines AMR as microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, viruses and parasites evolving to withstand treatment, and among its longer-term uncertainties it highlights the spread of fungal infections. Heavy use of antifungals in agriculture, combined with a warming climate, could widen the range and increase the severity of fungal infections in people and crops. At the same time, the report warns, our capacity to treat such infections could shrink. It explains that antifungals are few in number yet widely used in both medicine and agriculture, creating a combined One Health challenge for respiratory medicine and food supply. It also expects resistant fungal crop infections to cause sharp falls in agricultural yields.