Historical Disease

In the 1960's over 100,000 turkeys died within a two month period on poultry farms in England. Ducklings and pheasants also experienced large losses. The cause of thousands of poultry deaths was determined by analyzing the feed for the animals, a peanut meal showing high levels of the fungus Aspergillis flavus. This particular fungus produces a toxin, called aflatoxin, and is not only harmful to animals but to humans as well.

Here is an example of an ear of corn with Aspergillus flavus:


Another well known fungal catastrophe happened in Ireland around 1845 and lasted approximately 7 years. It was the potato blight. During this time, approximately 750,000 people died because of their dependence on the potato for food. In 1845 an airborne fungus blew into the Irish countryside, landed on the leaves of the plants and turned them black. The fungal spores then multiplied, spread to the surrounding plants, settled in the soil, and infected the potato tubers, eventually turning the tubers to mush.

There have been other instances throughout history showing plant disease outbreaks with similar far-reaching effects - powdery and downy mildews of grape in France (1851 and 1878); coffee rust in Ceylon (starting in the 1870s); Fusarium wilts of cotton and flax; southern bacterial wilt of tobacco (early 1900s); Sigatoka leaf spot and Panama disease of banana in Central America (1900–65); black stem rust of wheat (1916, 1935, 1953–54); and southern corn leaf blight (1970) in the United States.

It is unfortunate for these natural disasters to occur, and for all the lives lost. Hopefully one thing learned from the past is the knowledge there was a fungal problem in food and other crops, and if any one of them reoccurs they can be stopped before becoming disastrous.