In Photos: Kolkata Man Infected With 'Plant Fungus' - What Is It?

61-year-old plant mycologist from West Bengal gets diagnosed with plant fungus.

The news of a Kolkata man getting infected by plant fungi surfaced a few days ago. This was the first case of its kind to be spotted in a human.

(Photo: iStock)

A 61-year-old man reportedly went to a hospital in Kolkata complaining of cough, hoarseness of voice, fatigue, difficulty in swallowing, and sore throat for months.

When no bacterial infection was found, the doctors conducted a staining technique for fungi, revealing the presence of traces of a type of fungus called 'Violet fungus'.

The patient happens to be a mycologist who regularly worked with mushrooms for long hours.

Usually a person with a compromised immune system is an appropriate host for this fungus, but in this case, the patient had never had diabetes, HIV infection, renal or any chronic disease, immunosuppressive drug intake or trauma.

Getting infections isn't something that is unheard of, but this is the first case of plant-to-human fungal infection of this kind as per experts.

Though this infection can be deadly in plants, so far it seems to be treatable with antifungal medication for humans.

The news of a Kolkata man getting infected by plant fungi surfaced a few days ago, and this case was the first of its kind to be spotted in a human. This even surprised scientists and other medical experts, as a few things did not really add up.

So to dive in to this strange diagnosis, experts have been trying to dig deep into this virus that infected a 61-year-old plant mycologist from West Bengal. He has become the first case of fungal infection caused by plants, according to a report published in the journal, Medical Mycology Case.