Fungus on Medical Marijuana Might Have Killed Cancer Patient

By:

https://pixabay.com/en/hospital-bed-doctor-surgery-1802679/

Fungus on medical marijuana might have killed a young California man fighting a treatable cancer, according to a Feb. 7, 2017, article at CBSNews.com.

Doctors suspect the man could have died because the fungus was able to infect his body due to an immune system weakened by chemotherapy.

The fungal infection—described as rare but lethal—complicated the man’s cancer treatment.

“It started with a couple patients that were undergoing very intensive chemotherapy and a stem cell therapy, and those patients were very immune-compromised,” Dr. Joseph Tuscano of the University of California, Davis Cancer Center said.

Dr. George Thompson, a fungal infection expert with UC Davis Medical Center, said “it was strange to have cases of such a bad fungal disease in such a short amount of time.”

After the man died, researchers found dangerous bacteria and fungi on 20 samples of medical marijuana obtained from various places throughout California.

While fungi can be a problem for medical marijuana, fungicides also can pose a threat to patients who smoke their medicine.

The staff byline designates content that has been written by a staff writer of MJINews.

Related posts

Top