“You Can’t Fix Stupid” – Deadly Superfungus Because Global Warming

This piece almost makes it unnecessary to write about this ridiculous claim …. almost.

The true origin of the fungus is in the ear of a Japanese woman in a Japanese hospital. The key element is the word HOSPITAL.

The abstract of the “study” reads “…it may be the first example of a new fungal disease emerging from climate change, with the caveat that many other factors may have contributed.” The studied the “temperature susceptibility” of Candida auris — “a yeastlike parasitic fungus” like all other Candidas — named auris because it was fisrst discovered in a ear.

The abstract notes “Although new pathogenic fungal species are described regularly, these are mostly species associated with single cases in individuals who are immunosuppressed.”

Hmmm — from the CDC “Candidiasis is a fungal infection caused by yeasts that belong to the genus Candida. Some of the hundreds of Candida species can cause infection in humans; the most common is Candida albicans. Candida normally lives inside the body (in places such as the mouth, throat, gut, and vagina) and on the skin without causing any problems. Candida yeasts can cause infections if they grow out of control or if they enter deep into the body (for example, the bloodstream or internal organs like the kidney, heart, or brain).” and further notes that “Candida auris is an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat. Healthcare facilities in several countries have reported that C. auris has caused severe illness in hospitalized patients. C. auris is often resistant to multiple antifungal drugs.”.

Hospitals are the hotbed of the accidental creation of new, drug resistant infective diseases of all types, including FUNGUSes. It has ONLY been found in healthcare facilities (hospitals, clinics, old-folks homes).

There is not denying the seriousness of potentially fatal, multiple-drug resistant infective agents.

The idea that its emergence in hospitals was caused by global warming some place else is the very essence of the “Ecological Fallacy“.
This is clear from an author quote in the WaPo article:

“The most mysterious thing is that Candida auris appeared simultaneously in three different continents, and it’s very hard to explain that,” Casadevall said. Something happened to allow the organism to “bubble up and cause disease,” he said. “You gotta try to think, what could be the unifying cause here? These are different societies, different populations,” he said. “But the one thing they have in common is that the world is getting warmer.” Wrong — mthe one thing they have in common is HOSPITALs.

Nosocomial infections — Hospital-acquired infections — are often restricted to healthcare facilities and spread from one to another by exchange of staff, equipment, etc between hospitals — think visiting or traveling doctors and nurses, healthcare NGO doctors and nurses, medical researchers moving about. Spread of the fungus from hospital to hospital is not mysterious at all — they know doctors and nurses and medical equipment and medical researchers carry these diseases from hospital to hospital.

In the developed world, healthcare facilities are kept air-conditioned and are generally too cold for comfort — I visited one two days ago, and a nurse admitted to wearing two full layers of clothing beneath her scrubs in an attempt to stay warm.

Note that Candida auris has NOT been found in the wild.