Shedding light on overlooked infections

Alfred Health infectious disease physician Professor Orla Morrissey said there is a critical need for a global Fungal PPL to guide the development of new treatments.

“Fungal infections are on the increase and we have an increasing population of patients at risk,” she said.

“Fungal infections have been somewhat neglected - there aren’t as many fungal infections when compared to bacterial infections - but the mortality and morbidity rates are much higher.

“Mortality rates from these infections can be up to 90 per cent, particularly when the brain is involved, which really shows why this is important.

Professor Morrissey said deep tissue infections which can cause pneumonia, brain abscesses and liver abscesses are among the deadliest type of fungal infection.

However other conditions such as Candida – a fungal infection which impacts the bloodstream but can also cause thrush and tinea which can be hard to get rid of.

Work on the list, which is funded by the World Health Organisation will be conducted alongside alongside the Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases Mycology Interest Group and the University of Sydney.