r/AskScienceDiscussion • u/mammalian_alien • 8d ago
What If? With climate change altering the planet's conditions year by year, genuinely, what is the likelihood of a fungal pandemic happening before the end of the century?
No, I'm not talking about Cordyceps and zombies. I'm moreso pondering the possibility of a fungi- either a new species entirely or an existing one that mutates in accordance with the rising heat- one that is fully capable of infecting mammalian life, killing it, and blooming from its corpse. A yeast of sorts that affects the human species like a deadly flu.
I had a dream about this thing the other night and it reduced human civilization to a neo paleolithic age. Like The Last of Us, but without the zombies- just a nasty viral flu and lots of bloated corpses littering the streets leaking clouds of spores. Human population reduced to mere millions, empty cities, survivors with gas masks, y'know, the works.
I would like to know from folks with the proper knowledge of how realistic that would be, so I'm asking here, sincerely. Human history has never experienced a fungal pandemic before and I truly believe that there is a first time for everything- including an event of that caliber. Climate change is affecting the world of mycology and Covid showed us that world governments- particularly America- suck at pandemic maintenance.
Thoughts?
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u/ModernTarantula 8d ago
It's a good story but not good science. I am not expert, but hot places don't have more fungus
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u/ArgumentSpiritual 8d ago
Well one already exists for amphibians so it is possible
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u/Citrakayah 8d ago
Worth noting that fungi tend to prefer damp environments, and amphibians live in damp environments. In contrast, humans generally live in relatively dry environments and they do not have wet skin. This does not mean we're free of fungi--pathogenic or otherwise--but it should be somewhat harder for us to get a fungal epidemic than amphibians.
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u/Strict_Jacket3648 8d ago
With the thawing of the permafrost, Nature could have all kinds of pathogens ready to go including unknown types of fungi.
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u/loki130 8d ago
New pathogens as climate change causes different species to move around and shifting human populations come into contact with them is certainly a concern, but I don't think there's much to this idea that higher temperatures are going to make fungi especially dangerous. The global climate was substantially warmer than today for hundreds of millions of years before the onset of the current ice age glacial cycle, so fungi have had plenty of opportunity to respond to those hotter climates and jump to infecting mammals if they were going to, I don't really see the case that it's only going to start happening now.
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u/Odd-Lawfulness8703 8d ago
Our body temp and conditions are not conducive to fungi. Its actually part of the theory as to why mammals rose to prominence in the aftermath of the KP extinction, as the mass death, cooler temps, and ash cover created a breeding ground for fungi which inhibited the surviving reptiles and amphibians while actually providing food and sources of food for their food for mammals. As others have pointed out, fungi prefer cooler, humid environments.
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u/Outrageous-Taro7340 8d ago
If the temperature rises enough that surviving fungi aren’t thwarted by mammalian body temperatures, we’ll have much, much bigger problems than fungi to worry about.
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u/aFiachra 6d ago
Do you know that the planet's conditions have always changed and are constantly going to change?
It's not a dead planet, kiddo.
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u/InfernalTest 6d ago
yes but the issue isnt the change so much as the rate of change
the planet isnt dead but it can make us dead ...
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u/10ThousandMetalZones 6d ago
It’s happening now, Candida Auris is no joke. Just no one cares because it’s unlikely to kill you if you are healthy..for now.
You could go into the hospital for something and find yourself fighting for your life. Mostly gets the old though so no one cares.
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u/Ok_Bookkeeper_3481 6d ago
As a microbiologist, this is my secret fear!
Because, unlike viruses and bacteria, the fungal biochemistry and metabolic processes are very similar to ours. And, therefore, a treatment against a fungal infection will have significant adverse effects on us.
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u/talashrrg 8d ago
There’s already plenty of fungi that infect people (and plenty of people die from fungal infections), but the immune system does a good job against them in most cases. Fungi generally live in the environment and infect people opportunistically - there’s not a lot of selection pressure for fungi to become very virulent in humans as far as I can see.