Deadly mold infections may be far more common than doctors realized, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests. The study, published in the journal Infectious Diseases, identified about 450 cases of invasive mold disease across hospitals in the Atlanta area between 2020 and 2024. Roughly one-third of those patients died while in the hospital, indicating a dire situation that could be far more widespread than previously thought.
What makes this study particularly concerning is the fact that invasive mold disease is not required to be reported to public health officials, making it difficult to track nationwide. This lack of reporting could be a significant barrier to understanding the true scope of the problem. As Dr. Jeremy Gold, the study's senior author at the CDC, warns, the threat could grow in the coming years due to climate change and an aging population.
The study found that hospitals could expect about three to five cases each year for every 100 inpatient beds, with larger academic medical centers seeing the highest rates. Many of the patients had weakened immune systems or were recovering from COVID-19, making them especially vulnerable to serious infections. While most healthy people are unaffected, the infection can become life-threatening for cancer patients, transplant recipients, older adults, and others with weakened immune systems.
The CDC has previously estimated that invasive mold disease is linked to more than 15,000 hospitalizations in the United States each year. However, this study suggests that the actual number could be much higher. To better understand how often the infections occur, researchers reviewed nearly 1,000 possible cases from four Atlanta-area hospitals and outpatient clinics and confirmed that about 450 met the criteria for invasive mold disease.
The findings of this study raise important questions about the prevalence of invasive mold disease and the potential impact of climate change on fungal infections. As Dr. Jeffrey Jenks, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University, notes, the frequency of fungal infections will likely increase with climate change. This highlights the need for further research and better tracking of fungal infections to ensure that healthcare systems are prepared to handle the growing threat.
