Three urgent actions to tackle fungal antimicrobial resistance in the UK: a new paper
- jstacey19
- Jun 26
- 2 min read
“Fungal resistance is a silent and underestimated threat. The same substances helping to protect crops are also reducing the effectiveness of essential medicines. If we fail to act, we risk losing critical treatments and putting lives at risk.”
Dr Michael Bottery, University of Manchester
Fungal infections claim approximately 2.5 million lives globally each year. A further 6.5 million people suffering life-threatening infections. In the UK, the efficacy of the frontline clinical medicines (antifungals) used to treat these life-threatening infections is increasingly being undermined by fungal antimicrobial resistance (fAMR). Dual-use chemicals are applied to around 94% of arable crops, exposing fungi in the environment to the same compounds relied upon in hospitals. Over time, this exposure allows fungi to evolve and develop resistance, making infections harder to treat when they infect humans. Some resistant strains have already been detected in clinical settings, raising fears that treatments could become increasingly ineffective. The UK urgently needs a new national strategy to tackle this issue.
The UK’s current response is fragmented, with responsibility split between agriculture, healthcare and environmental regulators. Agricultural fungicide risk assessments for pesticide approval do not evaluate cross-resistance risks in human pathogens. Furthermore, coordinated national surveillance for fungal antimicrobial resistance’s lacking across clinical and environmental domains. Consequently the UK is now out of step with the “One Health” approach – which recognises “that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems) are closely linked and interdependent” (WHO, One health) – which has been adopted by the EU and USA. A new paper, supported by the F1AMR network and published in npj Antimicrobials and Resistance, identifies three priorities to address the clear governance gap:
Establish a cross-government One Health body with a statutory mandate to oversee and coordinate fAMR policy.
Implement a mandatory, integrated environmental-clinical surveillance system to catch resistance emergence early.
Reform agricultural fungicide approval frameworks to explicitly assess the risk of human pathogen cross-resistance.
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