Never-before-seen fungus that mutates at ‘hyper’ speed is discovered in China as two patients die with it

A never-before-seen fungus that can infect humans has been detected in China.

Two men, in their 60s and 80s, have already died while infected with the pathogen, called R. fluvialis, though it’s unclear if the fungus contributed to their deaths.

Researchers at Nanjing Medical Center who made the discovery fear others may also have contracted the disease, which is a type of yeast.

In an experiment in mice, R. fluvialis was shown to mutate rapidly, suggesting the same could happen in humans if it becomes widespread.

The fungus was discovered as part of research into samples from tens of thousands of patients who were treated in hospitals across China between 2009 and 2019. 

The two men were not known to each other — they lived nearly 500 miles away. There was a three-year difference between when they were hospitalized 

They also had weakened immune systems, with one man on immunosuppressant drugs while the second had diabetes.

But the cases have raised concerns, especially after lab tests showed the new fungus was resistant to three commonly used front-line anti-fungal treatments (fluconazole, caspofungin and amphotericin B).

In a separate experiment in immunocompromised mice, R. fluvialis was shown to mutate rapidly to form ‘hypervirulent mutants’.

And in a petri dish, it mutated 21 times faster at human body temperature than at ambient temperature — raising the risk of more dangerous strains emerging.  

At this stage, the scientists said it was unclear how the patients became infected and whether the fungus contributed to their deaths.

But, in many cases, fungal infections — such as with C. auris — are contracted in hospitals after patients are admitted for separate conditions.

C. auris can spread to the blood and cause sepsis, which is where the immune system over-reacts to an infection. It is fatal in about 30 percent of cases. 

Dr David Denning, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Manchester, in the UK, told LiveScience — which revealed the study — that it was a ‘remarkable find’ that ‘bodes badly for the future’.

Dr Matthew Fisher, a fungal diseases epidemiologist at Imperial College London, added that the fungus should not yet be seen as a major, emerging threat.

‘My kind of first feeling here is that there are un-surveyed environments in China where these yeasts dwell,’ he said.

‘These two patients have been unlucky enough to be exposed.’

The 61-year-old patient was admitted to a hospital in Nanjing in 2013 with severe pancreatitis — or inflammation of the pancreas — and kidney injury.

He died from multiple organ failure after being treated with anti-fungals.

The 85-year-old patient was admitted to a hospital in Tianjin, about 500 miles further north, in 2016 suffering from pneumonia.

He was also treated with anti-fungals, but died after suffering from respiratory failure.

Over the decade analyzed, a total of 27,100 strains of fungi were detected in hospital patients.

Of these, rare fungi accounted for just 1.7 percent of the strains — of which, only one — R. fluvialis — was a new species that had not previously been recorded.

The scientists said that their paper also highlighted the risk of global warming causing new pathogens to emerge — because the fungus mutated more at higher temperatures. 

The study was published in the journal Nature Microbiology.