Gaby
Unfortunately, not all mushrooms are beneficial. Among the nearly 100,000 known species, medical mycology highlights about 200 types that can cause dangerous and hard-to-treat diseases in humans. Some of these are tissue and organ parasites that thrive on weakened bodies due to various adverse factors. Others become allergens when humans come into contact with their spores or metabolic byproducts. Additionally, some can lead to poisoning.
Parasitic fungi can damage areas such as the eyes, skin, hair, and lung mucosa. The ubiquitous Candida fungi, which thrive on plants, in milk, and other food products, as well as in the human mouth and gastrointestinal tract, can cause systemic infections when the body is weakened—often after prolonged antibiotic use. To prevent this, antifungal medications are administered alongside antibacterial antibiotics.
Infections and poisonings can also occur when people consume moldy food or food contaminated with toxic fungi. Such poisonings most frequently happen from eating grains, rice, peanuts, and oilseeds that have been affected by fungi. Who hasn’t heard of the terrifying poisonings caused not by microscopic fungi, but by the infamous death cap mushroom? Its toxin is comparable in potency to that of snake venom. Other poisonous mushrooms are not as dangerous.
The primary cause of mushroom poisoning is the consumption of toxic mushrooms mistaken for their edible look-alikes. One can also get poisoned by eating old, overripe fruiting bodies that have begun to decompose, as well as improperly preserved mushrooms. Nowadays, even edible mushrooms growing near busy highways can become toxic, as they are capable of accumulating salts and heavy metal ions, particularly lead, released into the atmosphere by vehicles.
Now that we’ve acknowledged these concerns, let’s move on to the main topic of this article.
Indeed, many mushrooms have long served humanity well. Some have been mentioned as medicinal agents in the works of Dioscorides (1st century AD), Pliny the Elder (1st century AD), and Galen (2nd century AD). Mushrooms appear in folk medicine texts—handwritten books on medicinal plants. Naturally, folk medicine initially focused on macromycetes—mushrooms with large fruiting bodies. Both edible (such as porcini, champignon, and earthstar) and inedible (like the fruiting body of the polypore) as well as poisonous (like the fly agaric) mushrooms were used as remedies.
In Russia, as early as the 17th century, poultices made from porcini mushrooms were successfully used to treat frostbite. To this day, such tinctures from porcini are still used in some regions of Siberia. In ancient times, this mushroom was used in forested areas of Germany to treat skin cancer.
The red fly agaric was once used to treat rheumatism, nervous system disorders, gland tumors, and even tuberculosis. Even now, in some parts of our country, tinctures made from dried fly agaric fruiting bodies are used for muscle and spine pain. Modern homeopaths recommend preparations made from red fly agaric for various, sometimes very severe, conditions such as chorea and epilepsy.
A “mushroom ointment,” used as a remedy for gout, is made from the common earthstar, specifically from its so-called “earth oil”—the mucilaginous coating of the mushroom. Interestingly, it has long been used in folk medicine for rheumatism and other ailments.
Another widely known mushroom is the gray dung fungus, which grows in fertilized soil and is tasty when young. However, cooks serving this mushroom must know that guests should not drink any alcohol. Otherwise, it can lead to poisoning. From this “anti-alcohol mushroom,” a substance similar to the well-known disulfiram has been extracted.
The well-known mushrooms known as “talking mushrooms” contain clitocybin—a substance with antibacterial properties that helps with tuberculosis. French doctors also use this mushroom to treat epilepsy. Antibacterial properties are also found in champignons, autumn honey mushrooms, earthstars, and some polypores. Minor cuts and abrasions can be quickly healed by applying a cut young earthstar, a traditional folk remedy. The flesh of the fruiting body of the true polypore, which parasitizes on deciduous trees, can quickly stop bleeding.
Recently, chaga, a birch fungus, has yielded chaga acid, which possesses strong physiological activity. In our country, chaga extract is now made, which is effective for chronic gastritis and stomach ulcers. From the fruiting body of another birch parasite, the Piptoporus sponge, a substance with excellent anti-inflammatory properties has been isolated, rivaling cortisone in strength.
On the trunks of larch trees, one can find the white fruiting bodies of the larch sponge. In ancient Russia, this mushroom was considered medicinal. It was used for a wide range of ailments, including bruises, asthma, tuberculosis, and jaundice. The fruiting bodies of the sponge contain up to 70 percent resinous substances, many of which are physiologically active. Notably, agaric acid has been found here, which is beneficial in cases of exhausting sweating due to tuberculosis. At the end of the last century and the beginning of this one, Russia was the largest exporter of larch sponge to the global market, exporting thousands of poods annually. Today, the USSR is one of the few countries where the collection of this medicinal raw material is organized.
However, the triumphant march of mushrooms in medicine is led by representatives of another vast group of fungi that do not form large fruiting bodies—micromycetes. It is these humble microscopic fungi that have provided humanity with powerful medicinal agents such as antibiotics, enzymes, and hormones…
Penicillin… This first among the many antibiotics has opened a new era in medicine. About 40 years have passed since the first industrial batch of the drug was released. During this time, it has saved millions of patients suffering from pneumonia, blood infections, epidemic meningitis, scarlet fever, and diphtheria…
Following the triumph of penicillin, thousands of cultures of microorganisms were isolated from various substrates and studied in laboratories. The searches yielded promising results—doctors now have access to dozens of powerful medications. In production, not wild (naturally isolated) cultures are used, but selectively bred strains of fungi that are much more productive than their wild counterparts. Although the peak of antibiotic searches has somewhat subsided, researchers face new challenges—new antibiotics are needed to combat viruses and malignant tumors, and there is a need to overcome the adaptation of pathogenic microbes to antibiotics. In short, the search continues.
Fungi also play a significant role in the production of vitamins. For example, yeast fungi from the class of sac fungi are the basis for the production of vitamin D2—ergosterol, while mucor fungi are used for carotene.
Mushrooms have also come to our aid in the production of enzyme preparations. For instance, the fungal enzyme amylase is used to treat certain forms of dystrophy and purulent-surgical diseases, while proteases are involved in the production of vaccines, toxins, anatoxins, phages, and serums.
Medicine owes the emergence of a large number of steroid hormones to microscopic fungi. The process of obtaining hormonal preparations through chemical synthesis is lengthy and expensive. Only the development of microbiological synthesis technology for steroid hormones in the 1950s made them accessible for everyday use. Unlike the production of antibiotics, in this case, the fungus is first grown in a medium conducive to growth, and then a toxic amount of steroids is added to it. Defending itself against poisoning, the fungal culture effectively neutralizes these compounds. The process is so efficient that a 100 percent yield of the transformed substance can be achieved. Moreover, hormonal preparations from the cortisone group obtained through fungi are often more active than ordinary natural hormones.
Synthetically produced organic acids, carbohydrates, and alcohols from fungi are also in use in medicine. However, microscopic fungi are still poorly understood. Much work remains to be done to ensure that all the riches of the fungal world are utilized for the benefit of humanity.
