Emerging Fungal Infections

Abstract

The epidemiology of invasive fungal infections is evolving. Yeasts other than Candida albicans and moulds other than Aspergillus fumigatus have emerged as significant causes of invasive mycoses in severely immunocompromised patients. Whereas in some instances these changes may be related to medical interventions, such as the use of prophylactic antifungal agents, in the majority of cases, they seem to be a consequence of changes in the host. More severe immunosuppression or different types of immune suppression impact both risk and the infections that occur. These factors have altered the epidemiology of infection in organ transplant recipients, premature newborns and critically ill patients. Our review discusses the epidemiology of some fungal infections that have emerged in the past few years, with an emphasis on the potential factors associated with their emergence and on practical implications of these epidemiological changes. In addition, some special characteristics noted in children and neonates are addressed separately.

High-Resolution Screening Combined with HPLC-HRMS-SPE-NMR for Identification of Fungal Plasma Membrane H+-ATPase Inhibitors from Plants

“…There are an increased number of infections that cannot be treated with the medicines available today, in part caused by infections with fungi that have become resistant to existing drugs, 3,4 but also due to infections with newly emerging fungal pathogens, which are not susceptible to the existing drugs. 5 A large number of fungal proteins have been proposed as potential targets for novel antifungal agents. 3,6 However, current available antifungal agents are primarily targeting the intracellular membrane and cell wall biosynthesis, 3 and thus need to enter the fungus to act.…”