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Deadly Fungus Is Found in Bread And Pasta- WHO Warns As Infections Surge Globally
Experts have cautioned that popular staples like bread and pasta contain dangerous fungal toxins that represent a major hazard to human health.
According to a new investigation, the majority of wheat grown in the UK is affected by the fungus fusarium head blight (FHB), which is the key component of many starchy carbohydrates.
Humans cannot be harmed by FHB, but the mycotoxin it creates can be fatal.
According to UK experts, 70% of the wheat grown in the country between 2010 and 2019 carried lethal mycotoxins.
Additionally, they discovered that the amounts of vomitoxin, a mycotoxin prevalent in British wheat, were within acceptable limits.
The fact that vomitoxin is present in so many of our foods, according to experts from the Universities of Bath and Exeter, is “concerning.”
Two cases of same deadly infection that killed girl, 6, found at nearby school
The long-term effects of regular, low-level dietary exposure to mycotoxins on human health are still unknown, according to Neil Brown, a researcher with the University of Bath.
Mycotoxins have previously been connected to renal disorders and liver cancer.
Acute temporary vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, fever, and other symptoms can also be brought on by them.
The investigation, which was reported in Nature Food, also revealed that one-fourth of the wheat was contaminated with various mycotoxins.
According to Neil in The Conversation, this is “raising worries of synergism.” This is the point where poisons interact and do more damage as a group than they would individually.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning that fatal fungal infections are on the rise around the world.
Antifungal resistance, according to the WHO’s first report on the 19 fungal priority infections to watch, has “significant implications” for human health.
Numerous fungi, such as candida, which commonly causes vaginal thrush and other infections, are becoming more difficult to treat.
Professor Jon Cohen of infectious diseases at Brighton & Sussex Medical School said that fungal infections are “less common than other types of infection but can cause extremely serious disease or death.”
The WHO estimates that 1.7 million people die each year as a result of fungal disease.
In most healthy people the immune system can fight off the infection, but it can be life-threatening in already ill people, or immunocompromised individuals.
