A new strain of fungi, Cryptococcus gatti, established as the cause of severe brain and lung infections that resulted in many deaths in the United States may be headed for Nigeria and other countries in Africa.
The airborne and extremely rare hypervirulent fungus earlier noticed in Australia and South America, could spread even wider, as a consequence of Climate Change.
Dean, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, Prof Dele Fapohunda, who revealed this during the faculty’s 2015 Inaugural Lecture said, “This is a major source of worry.”
A greater cause for worry, as disclosed by Faphunda, is that the once side-lined and maligned microbes are becoming irrepressible and difficult to tame with common medications.
He said, “Just like antibiotics, some fungi no longer respond to antifungal medications. The general azole resistance inAspergillus -initiated human diseases and specifically the fluconazole resistance in Candida are subjects of concern.”
The Dean said although some reliable explanations have been given for azole resistance, the mechanism in polyene and echinocandins is yet be conclusively established.
“The conduct of some microfungi could be very strange as to attract inordinate attention and scrutiny. For example the mysterious caterpillar fungus, Ophiocordyceps sinensis has the ability to take over and control the host’s metabolic activities by arresting its brain. In so doing, it produces bioactive compounds to sustain its function,” Fapohunda pointed out, citing the result of a 2013 research.
Speaking on the relationship between fungi and commonly consumed foods in Nigeria, Fapohunda said, “Fungi are ready companies of kunu production and many other fermented local brews.”
He described the microbes as silent, gentle, soft, edible, toxic, macroscopic, virulent, attractive, microscopic and destructive.
“From this expressions, it is clear that we are dealing with an interesting rainbow. The fungi, until recently, have been so marginalised and totally ignored in secondary schools to the extent that only plants and animals are being studied. Sometimes the ignorance becomes alarming when they are considered as some ‘kind of bacteria’.”
According to the Dean, fungi have an enormous capacity to secrete enzymes either as natural or opportunistic residents.
“In fermentation and spoilage, we have implicated some microfungi on maize , Sorghum and on fast foods in Nigeria,” Fapohunda noted.
Food safety concerns
Fapohunda also noted that a mouldy food item is naturally associated with some fungi, saying, “These invading moulds may produce mycotoxins that could endanger public health directly through targets like groundnuts, sauces, maize, wheat and wheat products, beans , cocoa, coffee, oilseeds, nuts, fruits and their juices, beverages (wine and beer) and indirectly through foods obtained from animals that are given contaminated diet.”
He cited some of the risks associated with mycotoxins consumption to include cancer, compromised immune system and reproductive malfunctioning.
“Some countries like India and Kenya had experienced deaths arising from chronic intoxication through aflatoxin contaminated meals. On the agricultural plane, the consumption of mould contaminated grains significantly depressed growth rates and results in harmful metabolic changes that reduce the productivity of broiler and laying chickens, pigs and dairy cattle. They are therefore called ‘hidden killers,” Fapohunda said.
On the origin of fungi, Fapohunda went biblical, saying, “We are told by the Holy Bible that ‘the secret things belong to the Lord, our God’(Deut 29:29). Their conduct, their metabolism and genomics can now be seen and each is holding a lot of promise and securing a locus of mammoth significance to humanity.”
He also highlighted their importance thus: “Mushrooms like Agaricus spp, Pleurotus ostreatus, Volvariella volvacea, Lentinula edoides are consumed directly as food by man; Penicillium chrysogenum (formerly P notatum ) is a source of penicillin, an antibiotic. Yeasts like Saccharomyces, are used in industrial fermentation in bakery and brewery.”
Continuing, he said, “Useful proteins like insulin and some human hormones can be synthesised by members of the ascomycota.”
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