Fungal Eye Infections

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal eye infections are common and can be severe, potentially leading to vision loss. The most common risk factor for fungal eye infections is ocular trauma, mainly if the injury was caused by plant material, such as a stick, a thorn, or a leaf. Depending on the injured site, ocular fungal infections may cause fungal keratitis, scleritis, or endophthalmitis. Among them, fungal keratitis affects over a million people annually, with the highest rates in Asia and Africa. Different fungal eye infections may cause various ocular complications. Many fungi, including filamentous and non-filamentous fungi, can cause opportunistic eye infections. The environmental prevalence of fungal species leads to certain fungal species with dominance in a specific climates and geographic areas. The invasiveness or virulence of different fungi to the eye is diverse. Additionally, the antifungal susceptibility of various fungi is variable. Therefore, efficient laboratory diagnosis and antifungal treatment are undoubtedly critical to rescue vision for patients with a fungal eye infection. However, substantial gaps exist, such as suboptimal fungal diagnostics and antifungal strategies, and new threats such as antifungal resistance are emerging. Considering the vision-threatening nature and highly refractory medical events of fungal eye infections, we hope to invite researchers to contribute to this Special Issue, focused on reducing the medical burden of fungal eye infections. This will require updated knowledge from multifaceted approaches, including epidemiology, novel diagnosis, antifungal susceptibility, new antifungal regimens, and prognostic evaluation. Moreover, studies are welcome that adopt in vitro analysis and animal models to elucidate the mechanism of a specific fungal eye infection, a novel diagnostic modality, or a new treatment for ocular fungal infections.

Dr. Ching-Hsi Hsiao
Dr. Ming-Tse Kuo
Guest Editors

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