Fungicides are often sprayed onto crops in large quantities to prevent fungal diseases occurring later in the season. Credit: Dave Thurber/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty

Not for nothing are fungi often described as the ‘hidden kingdom’. Many exist mainly or entirely underground, and only around 5% of the world’s fungal species are thought to have been discovered so far.

Although the problem of bacteria becoming resistant to the drugs used to defeat them has long attracted attention, its fungal parallel has flown mostly under the radar. “Very little research is done on human fungal infections compared to other types of infections,” says Matthew Fisher, a fungal epidemiologist at Imperial College London. He is one of a number of researchers who think that this urgently needs to change.…