Worldwide emergence of resistance to antifungal drugs challenges human health and food security
Year: 2018
Type: review
Abstract: The recent rate of emergence of pathogenic fungi that are resistant to the limited number of commonly used antifungal agents is unprecedented. The azoles, for example, are used not only for human and animal health care and crop protection but also in antifouling coatings and timber preservation. The ubiquity and multiple uses of azoles have hastened the independent evolution of resistance in many environments. One consequence is an increasing risk in human health care from naturally occurring opportunistic fungal pathogens that have acquired resistance to this broad class of chemicals. To avoid a global collapse in our ability to control fungal infections and to avoid critical failures in medicine and food security, we must improve our stewardship of extant chemicals, promote new antifungal discovery, and leverage emerging technologies for alternative solutions.
Source: Science
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1209564735, An evolutionary population genomics approach to determine the genetic basis of virulence in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, G4459876844, G4469184056, G5896667461, G6520098237, The spatial epidemiology and molecular evolution of panzootic amphibian chytridiomycosis, Fungal pathogens and their in vivo response in the context of antifungal tolerance and resistance, G7484399654, BBSRC Strategic Programme in Smart Crop Protection, G8528555751, G9000194501, The evolutionary dynamics of multiazole resistance in pathogenic Aspergillus fungi
OpenAlex ID: W2804572516