Terrifying rise of fungal infection sweeping US as Kylie Jenner’s hair stylist becomes latest victim: Doctors reveal those most at risk

The killer fungi that led to the tragic death of Hollywood stylist Jesus Guerrero is exploding among people who previously have not been at risk.

Guerrero, known for working with stars like Kylie Jenner and Jennifer Lopez, died at a Los Angeles hospital in February.

The medical examiner confirmed the celebrity stylist died from two deadly fungal infections: Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) and Cryptococcus neoformans, most likely a complication of AIDS, which was listed as a secondary cause of death. It is not known how he became infected. 

People with HIV or AIDS historically represent the largest population affected by the fungi, because of their weakened immune systems.

However, cases are now alarmingly rising among broader populations, including non HIV or AIDS-immunosuppressed patients.

North-American cryptococcal cases have jumped 62 percent since 2014, while UK Pneumocystis infections doubled.

Aside from those battling HIV, these infections can more easily strike other people with weakened immunity, including patients undergoing cancer treatments, those who are on immunosuppressants after an organ transplant – and even those with a Covid infection.

‘These individuals might not be on doctors’ radar for infections like PJP, so they often aren’t given preventive treatments the way HIV-positive patients are,’ Dr Ehsan Ali, an internal medicine specialist. ‘That delay in recognition and care can be life-threatening.

‘The growing number of non-HIV patients developing these infections is a sign that we need to rethink how we monitor and protect people with suppressed immune systems. 

‘Just because someone doesn’t have HIV doesn’t mean they’re not at risk, and catching these infections early can be the difference between recovery and tragedy.’  

Pneumocystis jirovecii is a silent airborne killer whose spores float undetected. It attacks the lungs with deadly inflammation that drowns victims in fluid and deprives the body of oxygen, leading to multi-organ failure. 

Cryptococcus, meanwhile, hides in soil and bird droppings, invading lungs before migrating to the brain to cause fatal meningitis. There it unleashes a double onslaught of meningitis and encephalitis – brain swelling – often with fatal consequences.

A trio of telltale signs of PJP – a dry cough (95 percent of patients), trouble breathing, and a low-grade fever (around 80 percent) – is a key indication of the fungal infection in the lungs.

Since its discovery in the 1980s, PJP has been considered a disease solely of the immunocompromised, particularly in people suffering from AIDS. 

While typically believed to be a condition associated with HIV/AIDS, Dr Ali said patients undergoing chemotherapy, recovering from organ transplants, or taking medications like steroids or immunosuppressants for conditions like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or Crohn’s disease, represent a growing patient population. 

In 2005, three-year-old Eliza Jane Scovill, who later tested HIV-positive, died from a pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii. 

Eliza Jane was born to a mother with HIV who denied the virus caused AIDS and so  did not test her daughter for the condition.

This which severely weakened the little girl’s immune system and left her susceptible to infection. 

The youngster had been suffering from common cold symptoms and collapsed on May 15, 2005. She died the next day and an autopsy revealed she’d had pneumonia for weeks. 

But PJP has been shown to be even deadlier in non-HIV-positive patients with weakened immune systems.

Global death rates in people with weakened immune systems but without HIV range from 30 to 60 percent, compared to 10 to 20 percent of HIV patients.

Meanwhile, the global mortality rate of Cryptococcus neoformans infection is high in people with HIV – roughly 41 to 61 percent — and the early warning signs can be easy to miss.

Doctors say it typically starts out with headaches, fever, cough, and shortness of breath. As it spreads, it can cause stiff neck, nausea, confusion, and sensitivity to light — signs the infection has reached the brain and triggered life-threatening meningitis. 

Around 19 percent of AIDS-related deaths are due to meningitis caused by Cryptococcus neoformans.

Scientists are still trying to pinpoint the exact cause of the rising rates of fungal infections.

The number of people with weakened immune systems is on the rise as rates of chronic illness and disease increase.

Cancer rates and people being treated for the disease are steadily ticking up, translating to a growing population of immunocompromised people.

Climate change also has a major role to play – with rising global temperatures potentially forcing fungi to grow in places it previously hasn’t or evolve to become more adaptable and resistant to treatments. 

Robin May, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Birmingham in England, said: ‘Since we have far fewer drugs against fungi than we do against bacteria, the antifungal arsenal is very limited, and resistance to only one or two drugs can render a fungus essentially untreatable.’