The Threat Of Deadly Fungal Pathogens

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Science writer Emily Monosson says fungi and fungus-like pathogens are the most devastating disease agents on the planet, causing the extinction or near extinction of species of trees, bananas, bats, frogs and more. We also talk about life threatening fungal infections that affect the immunocompromised. Her book is Blight: Fungi and the Coming Pandemic.

Also, David Bianculli reviews the reboot of FX's Justified. Ken Tucker reviews two music books: Robert McCormick's Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey and Robert Mugge's Notes from the Road: A Filmmaker's Journey Through American Music.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is fresh air, I'm Tery Gross.
0:02.5	What are the most devastating disease agents on the planet?
0:06.0	Bacteria?
0:07.2	Nope.
0:08.1	Viruses?
0:09.2	Uh-uh.
0:10.1	I learned in a new book that the answer is,
0:12.2	fungi and fungus-like pathogens,
0:15.0	they're collectively the most devastating.
0:17.8	The book is called Blight,
0:19.4	fungi and the coming pandemic by my guest Emily Monison.
0:23.9	This year, the CDC reported that a deadly fungus,
0:27.1	first identified in 2016, is an urgent public health threat
0:31.3	that has spread an alarming rate during the COVID pandemic.
0:35.5	It's often resistant to go-to anti-fungal drugs.
0:39.3	It's a threat, but it's not a pandemic.
0:42.3	Monison writes about this fungus in her book.
0:44.5	She also writes about how and why fungal diseases
0:48.0	have led to the extinction or near extinction
0:50.9	of species of trees, bananas, bats, frogs,
0:53.7	salamanders, and more.
0:55.8	Most fungi are harmless, summer beneficial,
	...

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