In a first-of-its-kind medical case, a man in India contracted a fungal disease that typically affects trees and had never been reported in a human before.
The 61-year-old man had difficulty swallowing, hoarseness, cough, lack of appetite, fatigue and recurrent inflammation of the throat (pharyngitis) for about three months before seeking medical care, according to a case report published online on March 13 in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports. The patient works as a mycologist, meaning he studies fungi, and he reported regularly working with decaying material, mushrooms and other fungi as part of his research.
