Subhechcha Ganguly 
For a long time, the unnamed man had been working with decaying material, mushrooms, and various plant fungi. A man from Kolkata was found to have the first case of a potentially fatal fungal infection caused by plants. For three months, the 61-year-old plant mycologist complained of recurring couch, hoarseness of voice, difficulty swallowing, a sore throat, and fatigue. He had no history of diabetes, HIV, renal disease, chronic disease, immunosuppressive drug use, or trauma. According to doctors writing in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports, the unnamed man had been working with decaying material, mushrooms, and various plant fungi for a long time as part of his research activities.
The man was subjected to X-rays and CT scans by doctors. The chest X-ray was “normal,” but the CT scan revealed a paratracheal abscess in his neck. Paratracheal abscesses can obstruct airways and cause life-threatening infections, which can be fatal if not detected and treated promptly. 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 roses.” This is the first time a plant fungus has caused disease in a human. “Traditional techniques (microscopy and culture) failed to identify the fungus,” according to the report. “The identity of this unusual pathogen could only be revealed through sequencing.” “This case emphasises the potential of environmental plant fungi to cause disease in humans and emphasises the importance of molecular techniques for identifying the causative fungal species,” the study stated. The patient was given antifungal medication, and after two years of follow-up, she was “absolutely fine, with no evidence of recurrence,” the researchers wrote.
