Fungi/mycotoxins have been for the most part ignored as documented cause of many malignancies and of auto-immune diseases. The etiopathogenetic mechanisms are not the usual patterns of the invasive-type mycoses nor of mycotoxicoses, but incorporate the occult features of both of these mechanisms. Some of the mycotoxin-induced malignancies are: hepato-cellular carcinoma, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, endometrial cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, astrocytoma and Kaposi’s Sarcoma.

Fungi have long been known to affect human well being in various ways, including disease of essential crop plants, decay of stored foods with possible concomitant production of mycotoxins, superficial and systemic infection of human tissues, and disease associated with immune stimulation such as hypersensitivity pneumonitis and toxic pneumonitis. The spores of a large number of important fungi are less than 5 µm aerodynamic diameter, and therefore are able to enter the lungs. They also may contain significant amounts of mycotoxins. Diseases associated with inhalation of fungal spores can include toxic pneumonitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, tremors, chronic fatigue syndrome, kidney failure, and cancer.

Fungi closely resemble humans and animals in their molecular processes, except that they have a rigid cell wall, and cannot produce their own energy like plants can. They therefore rely on other things as their food source, such an animal that has died in the forest. They are literally everywhere: the soil, the air, in certain foods, and even the water. Many fungi are normal inhabitants of the human body (e.g. the intestinal tract), and do not cause disease unless the “host” body becomes immuno-compromised. This is discussed above. The fungi can cause disease, then, by either directly invading the tissues or by producing toxic by-products called mycotoxins. Mycotoxins can cause harm even if the host person is healthy to begin with.
Bacteria, like fungi, are sometimes also normal inhabitants of the human body. However, their physiology is different; this is why different drugs are used to kill bacteria than those that are used to kill fungi (although sulfa drugs, for example, have both antibacterial and antifungal capabilities). There are harmless and “good” bacteria, and there are “bad” bacteria. Lactobacillus acidophilus is one of several good bacteria that inhabit the small and large intestines and produce chemicals that inhibit the growth of bad bacteria and keep yeast and fungal counts under control. For example, L. acidophilus produces chemicals that are toxic to the bacteria commonly known to cause “Montezuma’s revenge.” It is when these good bacteria succumb to antibiotics, or chemicals in food, or chlorinated water, that the normal balance is upset, and the “terrain” of the bowel is changed. Without the protective bacteria, yeast can freely proliferate; this is when normal becomes abnormal, and symptoms arise.

read more about fungi on Dr Simoncini's website