A rare fungus found around the world kills up to 70% of the people it infects by liquifying the brain.
Now, the CDC is sounding the alarm that cases of this infection have jumped four-fold in just two years.
They warn there’s no federal tracking and surveillance of the disease. Experts are also unsure of how it spreads — and are still in the dark about why cases are steadily rising.
Cladophialophora Bantiana is a dark or black mold and found in soil and decaying matter around the world.
“Relatively little is known” about how the fungus infects humans, the CDC says, though it’s “presumed” to infect people who simply breathe it in, or it gets into an open wound.
Usually, the fungus heads for the brain, where it creates abscesses of dead tissue and pus, causing swelling and neurological issues like vision and memory loss.
Rising cases
The CDC reports that between January 2009 and July 2026, researchers identified 48 confirmed cases (and one probable case) of C. Bantiana infections in the US.
While the number of cases ranged from one to five per year between 2009 to 2023, they rose to eight in 2024 — then jumped to 14 in 2025.
“We think that we’re probably undersampling. We think that that’s probably going to be an underestimate of the true incidence.”Joshua Lieberman
Most cases (88%) were detected from samples from the brain, though 12% were found from lung samples.
C. Bantiana cases were found in 21 U.S. states and D.C., with the most in California (six cases), Florida (five), Texas (five), and Pennsylvania (four).
From 2017 to 2023, an average of 8.4 cases were detected per 1,000 CNS specimens submitted for fungal analysis at University of Washington. But by 2025, the number increased 210%, to 26 per 1,000.
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