Rising environmental temperatures and polluted surface waters: the prelude to the rise of mycoses in South Africa

DATES Received: 18 July 2021 Accepted: 17 March 2022 KEYWORDS river water pollution global warming mycoses thermotolerance INTRODUCTION Despite the global increase in the incidence of fungal infections, which affect 1 billion individuals and cause nearly 1.6 million deaths annually (Brown et al., 2012; Bongomin et al., 2017; Almeida et al., 2019), only a few fungal taxa have been identified as causative agents of mycoses (Robert and Casadevall, 2009; Almeida et al., 2019). With the ultimate goal of obtaining an indication of the potential effects of climate change and anthropogenic pollution on the ecology of opportunistic pathogenic fungi in South African rivers, the aim of this literature review was to survey existing knowledge on the occurrence of these fungi in the river systems of the region. POLLUTED SURFACE WATERS Rivers may become polluted as a result of various anthropogenic activities: agricultural practices, industrial processes, expanding urban communities with poor sanitation infrastructure, as well as faulty wastewater treatment operations (Vearey, 2011; Wang et al., 2012; Gliriska-Lewczuk et al., 2016; Liyanage and Yamada, 2017; Cullis et al., 2019). While very few studies were aimed at investigating the link between fungal numbers and pollution, several authors have studied fungal diversity in a wide range of surface water sources - including tap water, rivers, lakes and estuaries (Kwasnieskwa, 1988; Hageskal et al., 2009; Pereira et al., 2009; Magwaza et al, 2017; Assress et al., 2019).