Background

The global burden of fungal infections

Fungal pathogens are a major public health threat with significant global effects which, surprisingly, is not being addressed as it should. Globally, around 1.5 million people die each year of invasive fungal infections and the number of people who die each year from the top 10 invasive fungal diseases is at least equal to those dying from tuberculosis or malaria. Moreover, the mortality rate of invasive fungal infections is usually greater than 50%.

In contrast, funding for medical mycology is highly underrepresented, accounting for 1.4-2.5% of the total of what the Wellcome Trust, the U.K. Medical Research Council and the U.S. National Institutes of Health spent in 5 years during the late 2010s. This underrepresentation could be just an effect of the number of applications for funding in the area, but even so, the need for an increased awareness and engagement by funding institutions and researchers is no less urgent: the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools is critical to improve the situation of high-risk patients.