Think Fungus: Fungal Disease Awareness Week

Fungal Disease Awareness Week is October 1–5, 2018. CDC and partners have organized this week to highlight the importance of recognizing serious fungal diseases early enough in the course of a patient’s illness to provide life-saving treatment. Some fungal diseases go undiagnosed and cause serious infections in people in the United States and around the world, leading to illness and death. Increased awareness about fungal diseases is one of the most important ways we can improve early recognition and reduce delays in diagnosis and treatment. A key clue to when a sick person may have a fungal infection is that he or she is being treated with medications for other types of infection but does not get better.

Fungal Awareness Video

We encourage healthcare providers and their patients to “Think Fungus” when symptoms of infection do not get better with treatment.

Join us in sharing information to increase awareness in your community about fungal diseases. The quicker doctors can diagnose the right illness, the quicker a patient can be treated the right way.

Fungal Disease Materials

New resources
- Multidrug-Resistant Aspergillus fumigatus Carrying Mutations Linked to Environmental Fungicide Exposure — Multiple States, 2010–2017
  Aspergillus fumigatus is a mold that can cause serious and deadly mold infections in people with weakened immune systems. This report describes cases of infection with strains of Aspergillus that were resistant to the medicines typically used to treat it.
- Notes from the Field: Blastomycosis Cases Occurring Outside a Region of Known Endemicity — New York State, 2007–2017
  Blastomycosis mainly lives in areas of the United States and Canada surrounding the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys and the Great Lakes. This report describes an increase in blastomycosis cases in central New York state, an area where it usually does not occur.
- Estimation of direct healthcare costs of fungal diseases in the United StatesExternal
  Fungal diseases are estimated to cost $7.2 billion each year, based on this analysis of several national administrative data sources.
- Candida auris in healthcare facilities, New York, USA, 2013–2017
  This investigation describes an outbreak of infections caused by the emerging fungus Candida auris in New York City and highlights the importance of strengthening infection control efforts. Most patients in this outbreak had been residents of nursing homes with ventilator units and had other medical conditions that likely made them susceptible to C. auris.
- Burden of HIV-associated histoplasmosis compared with tuberculosis in Latin America: a modelling studyExternal
  In Latin America, histoplasmosis is one of the most common and serious infections in people living with HIV/AIDS. This study estimates that histoplasmosis causes over 6,500 yearly deaths, rivaling tuberculosis as a cause of death in that group.
Web features
- Fungal Infections – 10 Questions to Protect Your Health
- Valley Fever Awareness [English] [Español]
Fact sheets and Posters
Social Media Messages
Buttons & banners
Use these buttons to raise awareness about fungal diseases. You can save these images and share on your websites, blogs, and social network profiles.