Current Pattern in Epidemiology and Antifungal Resistance

Dear Colleagues,

Fungi are opportunistic pathogens that can cause infections in individuals with compromised immune systems, which may escalate to become invasive diseases. The epidemiology of invasive fungal infections is changing, with new populations at risk and the emergence of resistance caused by selective pressure arising from increased usage of antifungal agents in prophylaxis, empiric therapy, and agriculture. Limited antifungal therapeutic options are further challenged by drug–drug interactions, toxicity, and constraints in administration routes. The increase in the populations at risk of contracting invasive fungal infections, as well as possible advancements in the diagnosis and identification of these pathogens, have contributed to a significant increase in their incidence in recent years, making them a public health concern. More recently, we have noted an increase in infections caused by novel fungi, known as emerging fungi. This is most likely due to diagnostic advances and improved techniques of identification, but also as a result of increased selection pressure from available antifungal therapies, as many of these rare species are resistant to treatments used in clinical practice. Antifungal resistance continues to grow, evolve, and complicate patient management, despite the introduction of new antifungal agents. In vitro testing of susceptibility is often used to select agents with likely activity against a given infection; however, its most important use is to identify agents that will not work, thereby detecting antifungal resistance. This Special Issue describes the fundamental features of the most prominent fungal infections and their mechanisms of resistance to major antifungal agents.

Dr. Carmen Rodríguez-Cerdeira
Dr. Javier Araiza Santibáñez
Guest Editors

Dr. José Pereira Brunelli
Guest Editor Assistant

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• Candida albicans
• Candida auris
• Candida glabrata
• Candida parapsilosis
• Aspergillus fumigatus
• Cryptococcus neoformans
• Mucormycosis
• emerging fungal infections
• nosocomial transmission
• determination of antifungal susceptibility
• resistance to antifungal agents
• adaptation, rate of mutation and reproduction
• molecular methods to determine resistance
• the study of new antifungal agents
• genotypic characterization techniques
• invasive infections caused by filamentous fungi
• antimicrobial peptides with antifungal properties
• antifungal resistance in dermatophytes