Plant fungus Infection
Kolkata Man First In World To Contract Plant Fungus Infection In a first, a 61-year-old man from Kolkata was infected with a plant fungus. The man who was a plant mycologist suffered from the recurring couch, hoarseness of voice, difficulty swallowing, a sore throat and fatigue for the past few months. According to doctors writing in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports, the man had been working with decaying material, mushrooms, and various plant fungi for a long time as part of his research activities. Doctors examined the man with X-rays and CT scans. The X-ray on his chest came back "normal," but the CT scan revealed a paratracheal abscess in his neck. Doctors extracted the pus and sent a sample for testing to the "World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Fungi of Medical Importance," where he was diagnosed with Chondrostereum purpureum. “Chondrostereum purpureum is a plant fungus that causes silver leaf disease in plants, particularly those in the rose family. This is the first instance of a plant fungus causing disease in a human. Conventional techniques (microscopy and culture) failed to identify the fungus,” the report added.