The Relationship Between Human Exposure to Drug-Resistant Fungi and Climate Change
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.4083Keywords:
Climate Change, Antifungal Resistance, Drug-Resistant Fungi, Fungal Pathogens, Candida auris, Global Warning, Human Exposure, Environmental Reservoirs, Fungal Infections, Public HealthAbstract
With average global temperatures rising, the climate crisis continues to be exacerbated.
Although climate change causes a plethora of environmental issues, it also directly affects
human health on a global scale. Due to the steep increase of global temperatures, pathogens
are able to adapt to new environments at faster rates as the warming accelerates. Moreover, as
environmental temperatures rise, fungi adapt to higher temperatures, and this adjustment allows
these pathogens to bypass the human body’s natural heat defense and survive within the body’s
systems. Additionally, global warming is also responsible for creating heat stress, which has
been linked to accelerated mutations in pathogenic fungi and accelerates adaptation. Ultimately,
this literary review aims to analyze the correlation between global warming and the prevalence
of drug-resistent fungi. The review analyzes the strength of this relationship by determining the
impact of this rise in fungal pathogens due to climate change on patients and individuals
world-wide and various mitigation strategies.
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