Elimination of Bloodstream Infections Associated with Candida albicans Biofilm in Intravascular Catheters
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Department of Biological Sciences, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD 21204, USA
2
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD 20742, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Sarah Gaffen
Pathogens 2015, 4(3), 457-469; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens4030457
Received: 1 April 2015
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Revised: 7 June 2015
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Accepted: 19 June 2015
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Published: 29 June 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Candida Albicans Infections)
Intravascular catheters are among the most commonly inserted medical devices and they are known to cause a large number of catheter related bloodstream infections (BSIs). Biofilms are associated with many chronic infections due to the aggregation of microorganisms. One of these organisms is the fungus Candida albicans. It has shown to be one of the leading causes of catheter-related BSIs. The presence of biofilm on intravascular catheters provide increased tolerance against antimicrobial treatments, thus alternative treatment strategies are sought. Traditionally, many strategies, such as application of combined antimicrobials, addition of antifungals, and removal of catheters, have been practiced, but they were not successful in eradicating BSIs. Since these fungal infections can result in significant morbidity, mortality, and increased healthcare cost, other promising preventive strategies, including antimicrobial lock therapy, chelating agents, alcohol, and biofilm disruptors, have been applied. In this review, current success and failure of these new approaches, and a comparison with the previous strategies are discussed in order to understand which preventative treatment is the most effective in controlling the catheter-related BSIs.
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Keywords:
antibiotic lock technique; biofilm; bloodstream infections; Candida albicans; chelating agents; intravascular catheters
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
MDPI and ACS Style
Akbari, F.; Kjellerup, B.V. Elimination of Bloodstream Infections Associated with Candida albicans Biofilm in Intravascular Catheters. Pathogens 2015, 4, 457-469. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens4030457
AMA Style
Akbari F, Kjellerup BV. Elimination of Bloodstream Infections Associated with Candida albicans Biofilm in Intravascular Catheters. Pathogens. 2015; 4(3):457-469. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens4030457
Chicago/Turabian StyleAkbari, Freshta, and Birthe Veno Kjellerup. 2015. "Elimination of Bloodstream Infections Associated with Candida albicans Biofilm in Intravascular Catheters" Pathogens 4, no. 3: 457-469. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens4030457
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