The University of Exeter's is launching a medical mycology unit in Asia, further expanding its global network to boost research and training to fight fungal disease.
Exeter's MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (CMM) has partnered with Mahidol University in Bangkok to establish the new CMM Southeast Asia Unit, which will collaborate with universities and medical centres across the region.
Asia is home to more than half of the world's population and bears a large share of the estimated 6.5 million life-threatening fungal infections that occur globally each year, resulting in an estimated 3.8 million deaths.
Launched in Bangkok yesterday (November 9), the new centre will unite the CMM at Exeter, the CMM AFRICA Unit based in Cape Town, and the CMM LATAM Unit based in Sao Paulo
Professor Adilia Warris, Co-Director of Exeter's MRC Centre in Medical Mycology, said: "We're proud to be working with our collaborators to launch the new Centre for Medical Mycology Unit in Southeast Asia. This will create, a global integrated network of medical mycology that disseminates state-of-the-art research and training, facilitating cutting edge science to tackle the key issues in the field, and to save lives."
The new CMM Southeast Asia Unit will address issues highly relevant to the region. It will advance fungal surveillance to improve how prepared services are for an outbreak of disease, and will deploy rapid point-of-care diagnostics. It will also conduct clinical trials that enrol patients in Asia and target the pathogens most prevalent in the regionIn addition, the new centre will support epidemiological and translational research, and develop the next generation of Southeast Asian mycologists.
In Asia, issues such as the hot, humid climate, and extreme weather exacerbate the spread of fungal disease. A serious challenge is that antifungal drugs are increasingly becoming resistant to treatment, meaning fungal lung and bloodstream infections and fungal skin infections are hearder to treat. Other specific regional issues include Talaromycosis, a fatal systemic fungal disease which is largely found in Southeast Asia. It causes approximately 17,000 cases and 5,000 deaths annually and kills up to one-third of patients despite treatment.
In India, cases of the fungal disease Mucormycosis are up to 70 times higher than elsewhere, driven by uncontrolled diabetes and the use of corticosteroid drugs and associated with poor outcomes.
Fungal keratitis of the eye affects more than one million people each year, nearly 90 per cent of them in Asia. Agricultural workers are particularly at risk of blindness, a long lasting consequence of fungal keratitis.
Professor Nopraenue Sajjarax Dhirathiti, the Vice President for Global Partnerships and University Council at Mahidol University: "This joint centre reflects the shared commitment of Mahidol University and the University of Exeter to advancing fungal disease research and improving patient care. By combining Mahidol's clinical and regional expertise with Exeter's international research network, we aim to develop practical solutions for Southeast Asia while contributing knowledge and innovation to the global response to fungal diseases."
