Malassezia restricta Pneumonia in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: First Report of Two Cases

Emerging fungal infections are a major challenge in solid organ transplantation (SOT) and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. We report two cases of Malassezia restricta pneumonia in SOT recipients. Infections were diagnosed with molecular analysis and histology. Patients were treated with antifungal therapy and have fully recovered.

Cross-Disciplinary Genomics Approaches to Studying Emerging Fungal Infections

Emerging fungal pathogens pose a serious, global and growing threat to food supply systems, wild ecosystems, and human health. However, historic chronic underinvestment in their research has resulted in a limited understanding of their epidemiology relative to bacterial and viral pathogens. Therefore, the untargeted nature of genomics and, more widely, -omics approaches is particularly attractive in addressing the threats posed by and illuminating the biology of these pathogens. Typically, research into plant, human and wildlife mycoses have been largely separated, with limited dialogue between disciplines. However, many serious mycoses facing the world today have common traits irrespective of host species, such as plastic genomes; wide host ranges; large population sizes and an ability to persist outside the host. These commonalities mean that -omics approaches that have been productively applied in one sphere and may also provide important insights in others, where these approaches may have historically been underutilised. In this review, we consider the advances made with genomics approaches in the fields of plant pathology, human medicine and wildlife health and the progress made in linking genomes to other -omics datatypes and sets; we identify the current barriers to linking -omics approaches and how these are being underutilised in each field; and we consider how and which -omics methodologies it is most crucial to build capacity for in the near future.

Current Insights on Antifungal Therapy: Novel Nanotechnology Approaches for Drug Delivery Systems and New Drugs from Natural Sources

The high incidence of fungal infections has become a worrisome public health issue, having been aggravated by an increase in host predisposition factors. Despite all the drugs available on the market to treat these diseases, their efficiency is questionable, and their side effects cannot be neglected. Bearing that in mind, it is of upmost importance to synthetize new and innovative carriers for these medicines not only to fight emerging fungal infections but also to avert the increase in drug-resistant strains. Although it has revealed to be a difficult job, new nano-based drug delivery systems and even new cellular targets and compounds with antifungal potential are now being investigated. This article will provide a summary of the state-of-the-art strategies that have been studied in order to improve antifungal therapy and reduce adverse effects of conventional drugs. The bidirectional relationship between Mycology and Nanotechnology will be also explained. Furthermore, the article will focus on new compounds from the marine environment which have a proven antifungal potential and may act as platforms to discover drug-like characteristics, highlighting the challenges of the translation of these natural compounds into the clinical pipeline.

Emerging Fungal Infections: New Patients, New Patterns, and New Pathogens

: The landscape of clinical mycology is constantly changing. New therapies for malignant and autoimmune diseases have led to new risk factors for unusual mycoses. Invasive candidiasis is increasingly caused by non-albicans Candida spp., including C. auris, a multidrug-resistant yeast with the potential for nosocomial transmission that has rapidly spread globally. The use of mould-active antifungal prophylaxis in patients with cancer or transplantation has decreased the incidence of invasive fungal disease, but shifted the balance of mould disease in these patients to those from non-fumigatus Aspergillus species, Mucorales, and Scedosporium/Lomentospora spp. The agricultural application of triazole pesticides has driven an emergence of azole-resistant A. fumigatus in environmental and clinical isolates. The widespread use of topical antifungals with corticosteroids in India has resulted in Trichophyton mentagrophytes causing recalcitrant dermatophytosis. New dimorphic fungal pathogens have emerged, including Emergomyces, which cause disseminated mycoses globally, primarily in HIV infected patients, and Blastomyces helicus and B. percursus, causes of atypical blastomycosis in western parts of North America and in Africa, respectively. In North America, regions of geographic risk for coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, and blastomycosis have expanded, possibly related to climate change. In Brazil, zoonotic sporotrichosis caused by Sporothrix brasiliensis has emerged as an important disease of felines and people.

Emerging Fungal Infections in the Era of Antibiotic Stewardship

Pneumonia is one of the most common causes of infection seen worldwide and still remains one of the most common causes of mortality despite significant advancements in medicine. With the increase in immunosuppression and antimicrobial usage, emerging infectious agents have been isolated in patients with pneumonia. The authors present a case in which Nonomuraea solani, Candida glabrata, and Candida dubliniensis were isolated from a bronchoalveolar lavage from an immunosuppressed patient with pneumonia.