Advances in Pediatric Fungal Infections: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Emerging Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue entitled "Advances in Pediatric Fungal Infections: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Emerging Challenges" aims to present recent research on various aspects of fungal infections in immunocompromised children. Invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality among pediatric patients with cancer, hematologic disorders, and those undergoing transplantation. Despite significant progress in diagnostic tools and antifungal therapies, the management of these infections remains complex due to emerging resistant species, diagnostic delays, and host-related factors.

This Special Issue seeks to gather high-quality research and reviews that address critical knowledge gaps and propose innovative approaches for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of IFDs in pediatric populations. Some of its focal points include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Epidemiology and burden of IFDs in pediatric populations, with a focus on onco-hematologic patients;
2. Advances in diagnostic techniques, including biomarkers and molecular tools, that are available for pediatrics;
3. When and how to perform antifungal therapeutic drug monitoring in children;
4. New antifungal agents that are available for children;
5. Host immune responses and risk stratification models;
6. Infection prevention strategies and antifungal prophylaxis;
7. Rare fungal pathogens in immunocompromised children.

Reviews, original research, and short communications will be welcome.

Dr. Fabianne Carlesse
Dr. María Elena Santolaya de Pablo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Fungi is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.