Can we stop killer fungi?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Fungal diseases are becoming more common, more dangerous, and more difficult to treat. There’s concern that they may cause the next global pandemic.
Rising global temperatures, better survival rates for vulnerable patients, and increased medical interventions contribute to the rise in fungal infections. Access to effective diagnostics and treatment remains limited, with significant disparities between high and low-income countries.
Treating fungal infections is becoming more challenging as they build resistance to the drugs used to treat them. New therapies are being developed, including treatments that disrupt fungal DNA replication or interfere with essential proteins, offering some hope for long-term control.
Contributors: Adilia Warris, Professor in Paediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Exeter, UK
Rita Oladele, Professor of Clinical Microbiology, University of Lagos and Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
Arturo Casadevall, Professor and Chair of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, US
Michael Bromley, Professor in Fungal Disease, University of Manchester, UK
Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Louise Clarke Researcher: Maeve Schaffer Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford Production co-ordinator: Tammy Snow
(Image: Aspergillus fumigatus, seen under an optical microscope. Credit: BSIP/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself. My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts. I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with leading journalists, experienced pundits and the biggest sports stars. Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the player's mouths. But the best thing about doing this at the BBC |
| 0:21.5 | is a unique access to the sporting world. |
| 0:24.8 | What that means is that we can bring you podcasts |
| 0:27.1 | that create a real connection to dedicated sports fans |
| 0:30.0 | across the UK. |
| 0:31.3 | So if you like this podcast, |
| 0:32.9 | head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more. |
| 0:35.6 | Welcome to The Inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett, from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:40.3 | One question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:45.9 | We often talk about the problem of climate change in the context of wildfires, floods and damage to buildings and crops. |
| 0:58.2 | But another less well-explored risk is that rising temperatures allow fungal diseases to spread to parts of the globe that were previously |
| 1:04.1 | too cold for them to survive. New research by Manchester University in the UK |
| 1:11.6 | suggests that a killer fungus that infects millions of people a year in hotter countries |
| 1:17.0 | may soon spread through Europe as the world continues to warm. |
| 1:23.5 | The Aspergillus species, which can cause deadly lung infections and is already estimated to kill around 1.8 million people globally each year, is forecast to spread northwards from Africa and South America. |
| 1:40.7 | The warning has echoes of the science fiction TV show The Last of Us, which dramatises the threat. |
| 1:49.3 | It depicts a terrifying brain-altering fungus that wipes out vast swathes of the population, creating a zombie apocalypse. |
| 2:00.1 | Experts say the drama vastly exaggerates the risk, |
| 2:04.1 | but there are still very real concerns |
| 2:06.7 | about the rise in fungal diseases. |
| 2:10.3 | This week on the inquiry, we're asking, |
| 2:13.5 | can we stop killer fungi? |
... |
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