By: Abeer Khan
20 Jan, 2026
At the frontlines of fungal disease: India’s top doctors collaborate with CIFAR researchers
January 20, 2026
Top experts joined a recent program meeting to share their expertise on the global rise of fungal disease and antibiotic resistance
While humanity has always faced consistent challenges worldwide, from natural disasters to social and political instability, a new threat has emerged in recent years. Across the globe, fungal diseases are on the rise, while resistance to every class of antifungal treatment is growing.
In India, this problem is particularly pervasive — the country has the highest burden of serious fungal diseases per population in the world. To better investigate and address this escalating threat to human health, researchers in CIFAR’s Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities program are collaborating with senior doctors from India who are on the front lines of combating fungal disease.
At a recent program meeting in Fall 2025, the group heard from Professor Arunaloke Chakrabarti, former Director of India’s World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Medical Mycology in Chandigarh, and Anuradha Chowdhary, a Fellow in the program, who shared insights on how researchers can better understand and address emerging fungal threats.
“Having two leaders in the field from a region that faces the highest burden of fungal disease share their insights on this challenging, existential problem is a tangible asset to our program,” says David Denning, an Advisor to the Fungal Kingdom program.
Nearly 6.5 million people around the world are affected by fungal disease, resulting in over 3 million deaths annually, making this a problem that can’t be ignored, explains Chakrabarti. He says that while the rise in fungal diseases has been reported globally, the situation is far worse in developing countries, especially in tropical regions where fungi thrive easily.
India has the highest rates of mucormycosis — a fast-moving infection also known as Black Fungus — as well as allergic aspergillosis, which complicates asthma, and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, which often follows and is complicated by Tuberculosis (TB). The global spread of ringworm, a resistant skin fungal infection caused by Trichophyton indotineae, also originated in India. The country ranks in the top five globally in incidents of Candida bloodstream infections and Pneumocystis pneumonia.
“Despite the rise in fungal disease and growing threat to human health, fungal infections receive very little attention and resources in India,” Chakrabarti says.
The country bears the highest burden of serious fungal diseases per population worldwide. According to a study conducted by Chakrabarti and Denning, this means over 57 million people (4.1 per cent of the population) are affected by serious fungal diseases. They estimate that India contributes to 30 per cent of candidemia (a fungal blood infection caused by Candida), 12 per cent of aspergillosis and 92 per cent of mucormycosis cases worldwide.
Chakrabarti says their study has drawn the attention of administrators and researchers globally, especially in India, to work against this pressing challenge. He also highlights how Indian experts are now providing leadership in the research and control of several fungal diseases, working with experts globally to develop a universal guideline for managing infections.
He says CIFAR’s Fungal Kingdom program offers a unique opportunity to bring together young scientists and thought leaders from diverse disciplines and global perspectives to collaborate on addressing the growing challenges of fungal disease and antifungal resistance. “The group’s scientific output is extraordinary and clearly has contributed to global awareness of the fungal threats to people and society.”
Fellow Anuradha Chowdhary gave a talk about antifungal resistance in Candida tropicalis at the Fall 2025 meeting. Chowdhary, a medical mycologist (a physician-scientist working in the field of human fungal infections), is the Director of the National Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance in Fungal Pathogens at Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi.
In her recent talk, she showed that these resistant strains are closely related to strains from China and pose a significant challenge for treatment — mortality is usually above 40 per cent. She emphasized the need for new antifungal drugs for many resistant fungi, and believes CIFAR’s interdisciplinary model plays a vital role in advancing this work.
“CIFAR is a dynamic, open-minded community,” says Chowdhary. “Here, we do not have mycologists only from one particular group, which is working on one particular path. We have people who are working on many different topics. So, when we solve a problem and we involve people from different fields, we have better answers.”
As the program continues to evolve, Denning says there will be a consistent focus on addressing the problem of antifungal disease and antibiotic resistance in both scientific and lay literature in order to make a long-term impact on human health.
“I hope we can continue convening experts to move the science of antifungal discovery and support the clinical development of programs.”
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