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Jul 23, 2024 | 
audible.com | Arturo Casadevall |Freida McFadden |Amy Tintera |Sarah J. Maas
Could fungal pathogens outsmart us before we find ways to combat them? Humans and fungi share nearly 50 percent of the same DNA. Because we're related, designing drugs to combat the varieties that attack us is a challenge. Meanwhile, in an ever hotter, wetter world, fungi may be finding new ways to thrive, queueing up global outbreak potentials for which no vaccine and woefully few medications exist; some fungi are already beginning to resist treatment.
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Jun 8, 2024 | 
nypost.com | Arturo Casadevall
A scene from The Last of Us, which helped propel the idea of dangerous Cordyceps fungi into popular culture. AP Video game-turned-HBO series “The Last of Us,” of course, is science fiction.
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Jun 8, 2024 | 
sg.news.yahoo.com | Arturo Casadevall
Video game-turned-HBO series “The Last of Us,” of course, is science fiction. Yet the idea is loosely based on a real fungus, cordyceps, that infects and manipulates the behavior of a wide range of insects, including ants. These cordyceps infect an ant, grow inside its body and then force the ant to climb to a high point on a plant or tree, where it can release fungal spores to infect and take over the greatest number of ants possible.
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May 11, 2024 | 
livescience.com | Arturo Casadevall
Fifteen years ago, scientists discovered a new species of deadly, drug-resistant fungus: Candida auris. It is now considered one of the most dangerous fungal pathogens on Earth. In this excerpt from "What if Fungi Win?" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024), author Arturo Casadevall looks at the rise of this deadly fungus, which could be the first to have emerged as a result of climate change.
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Apr 6, 2024 | 
biorxiv.org | Quigly Dragotakes |Arturo Casadevall |Johns Hopkins
AbstractCryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that causes cryptococcosis mostly in immune compromised patients, such as those with HIV/AIDS. One survival mechanism of C. neoformans during infection is melanin production, which catalyzed by laccase, and protects fungal cells against immune attack. Hence comparative assessment of laccase activity is useful for characterizing cryptococcal strains. We serendipitously observed that culturing C.
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Apr 1, 2024 | 
jci.org | Arturo Casadevall
When the JCI began publishing in 1924, the world was recovering from the end of the First World War and the lingering aftermath of the 1918 influenza pandemic. The 100th anniversary of the JCI occurs nearly five years since the initial appearance of COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2.
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Jan 1, 2024 | 
biorxiv.org | Quigly Dragotakes |Arturo Casadevall |Johns Hopkins
AbstractCryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that causes cryptococcosis mostly in immune compromised patients, such as those with HIV/AIDS. One survival mechanism of C. neoformans during infection is melanin production, which is catalyzed by laccase. Hence comparative assessment of laccase activity is useful for characterizing cryptococcal strains. After a serendipitous observation that culturing C.
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Nov 28, 2023 | 
nature.com | Arturo Casadevall
Increased heat tolerance in fungi with pathogenic potential due to global warming could bring new fungal diseases. The field of infectious diseases is unique in medicine because it routinely faces new and unexpected syndromes and illnesses. For example, HIV, SARS-CoV, Candida auris and SARS-CoV-2 all emerged in human populations, causing diseases that were previously unknown to medicine.
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Jun 14, 2023 | 
biorxiv.org | Quigly Dragotakes |Arturo Casadevall |Johns Hopkins
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Feb 23, 2023 | 
journals.plos.org | Arturo Casadevall |PLOS Pathogens
References 47 and 48 are incorrect. Please see the correct reference below. 47. Wiederhold NP, Najvar LK, Bocanegra R, Kirkpatrick WR, Sorrell TC, Patterson TF. Limited Activity of Miltefosine in Murine Models of Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis and Disseminated Cryptococcosis. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 2013;57: 745–750. doi:10.1128/AAC.01624-1248. Wang JP, Lee CK, Akalin A, Finberg RW, Levitz SM.
