The silvery fruit tree is the common name given to the tree-killing fungus Chondrosterium purple. It is a matter of care for botanists, since any plant that obtains it runs the serious risk of dying and infecting other nearby specimens.
For centuries it has been a matter of concern for the community dedicated to this work, but now an unexpected twist has emerged, with the record of the first documented case of a human being with this fungus.
How alarming is the topic really? It is likely that many maintain a high level of interest for what we just saw a few days ago with the premiere of the post-apocalyptic series. The Last of Us an HBO Max.
Since in the plot of this production, based on the original PlayStation video game, the end of modern civilization is detonated after a global epidemic where the Cordyceps fungus begins to infect humans to virtually turn them into zombies.
The series, being a work of fiction, plays with the virtually impossible idea that a fungus from the insect kingdom would make the leap to start infecting humans. But sometimes reality meets fiction.
The first man infected by the tree-killing fungus
A recent scientific investigation published in the most recent issue of Medical Mycology Case Reports recounts full details of a man case report of a 61 year old man who visited an outpatient clinic in India.
The subject had symptoms of cough, fatigue, sore throat, and difficulty swallowing that lasted for a period of three months. It was then that he went to get checked out and there the doctors found an abscess of pus on the right side of the trachea.
Samples were taken when detecting the apparent presence of some kind of fungus. When running the clinical trials and culturing it in a Petri dish, its samples were sent to another laboratory affiliated with the World Health Organization.
It was until then that they discovered that the man had been infected by the Chondrostereum purpureum fungus, thus recording the first known case.
Subject had a healthy immune system at the time of infection, but worked as a plant mycologist, a fungal scientist, which would explain how he was exposed.
Eventually the pus was drained and he was given two months of antifungal medication. His symptoms disappeared and, two years later, he showed no signs of recurrent infection.
So it did not go to major and only remained as a disturbing anecdote.