Triazole resistance in Aspergillus
fumigatus is
a growing public health concern. In addition to its emergence in the
therapy of invasive aspergillosis by triazole medicines, it has been
frequently detected in agricultural fields all over the world. Here,
we explore the potential link between residues of azole fungicides
with similar chemical structure to triazole medicines in soil and
the emergence of resistant A. fumigatus (RAF) through
855 500 km2 monitoring survey in Eastern China covering
6 provinces. In total, 67.3%, 15.2%, 12.3%, 2.9%, 1.5%, 0.4%, and
0.3% of the soil samples contained these five fungicides (tebuconazole,
difenoconazole, propiconazole, hexaconazole, and prochloraz) of 0–100,
100–200, 200–400, 400–600, 600–800, 800–1000,
and >1000 ng/g, respectively. The fractions of samples containing
RAF isolates were 2.4%, 5.2%, 6.4%, 7.7%, 7.4%, 14.3%, and 20.0% of
the samples with total azole fungicide residues of 0–100, 100–200,
200–400, 400–600, 600–800, 800–1000, and
>1000 ng/g, respectively. We find that the prevalence of RAFs is
positively
(P < 0.0001) correlated with residual levels of
azole fungicides in soils. Our results suggest that the use of azole
fungicides in agriculture should be minimized and the intervals between
treatments expanded to reduce the selective pressure toward the development
of resistance in A. fumigatus in agricultural fields.
