A 61-year-old plant mycologist from India has become the first person in the world to contract a fungal disease caused by a plant pathogen. The man was diagnosed with Chondrostereum purpureum, the fungus that causes silver leaf disease in plants, according to a study published in Medical Mycology Case Reports. The case highlights the potential for environmental plant fungi to cause disease in humans and stresses the importance of molecular techniques to identify the causative fungal species. The man worked with decaying plant and fungi material as part of his research activities and has since recovered after receiving two antifungal medications for two months. He is said to have experienced no complications as a result of the disease. Of the millions of fungi that exist, only a few hundred are capable of infecting humans. The fungal species that can grow at 35—37 °C can become a human pathogen or commensal flora. The pathogen enters the human body th