Antimicrobial resistance, a major public health concern, largely arises from excess use of antibiotic and antifungal drugs. Lack of routine diagnostic testing for fungal diseases exacerbates the problem of antimicrobial drug empiricism, both antibiotic and antifungal. In support of this contention, we cite 4 common clinical situations that illustrate this problem: 1) inaccurate diagnosis of fun...

Magnaporthe oryzae is an agricultural mold that causes disease in rice, resulting in devastating crop losses. Since rice is a world-wide staple food crop, infection by M. oryzae poses a serious global food security threat. Fungicides, including azole antifungals, are used to prevent and combat M. oryzae plant infections. The target of azoles is CYP51, an enzyme localized on the endoplasmic reti...

Fungal biofilm infections have become increasingly recognised as a significant clinical problem. One of the major reasons behind this is the impact that these have upon treatment, as antifungal therapy often fails and surgical intervention is required. This places a large financial burden on health care providers. This paper aims to illustrate the importance of fungal biofilms, particularly Can...

Medical devices provide an ecological niche for microbes to flourish as a biofilm community, protected from antimicrobials and host defenses. Biofilms formed by Candida albicans, the most common fungal pathogen, survive exposure to extraordinarily high drug concentrations. Here, we show that beta-glucan synthase Fks1p produces glucan, which is deposited in the biofilm matrix. The extracellular ...

salmonella enterica is recognized as one of the major food-borne pathogens with more than 2,500 serotypesworldwide. the present study addresses antimicrobial resistance of salmonella enterica serovar enteritidisisolates in iran. a collection of 151 salmonella spp. isolates collected from poultry were serotyped toidentify salmonella enteritidis. sixty-one salmonella enteritidis were subsequently...

Azoles are widely used antifungal drugs. This family of compounds includes triazoles, mostly used in the treatment of systemic infections, and imidazoles, such as clotrimazole, often used in the case of superficial infections. Candida glabrata is the second most common cause of candidemia worldwide and presents higher levels of intrinsic azole resistance when compared with Candida albicans, thu...

Fungal infection has become one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections with high mortality rates. Furthermore, drug resistance is common for fungus-causing diseases. Synergistic drug combinations could provide an effective strategy to overcome drug resistance. Meanwhile, synergistic drug combinations can increase treatment efficacy and decrease drug dosage to avoid toxicity. Ther...

Fungal biofilms are a major cause of human mortality and are recalcitrant to most treatments due to intrinsic drug resistance. These complex communities of multiple cell types form on indwelling medical devices and their eradication often requires surgical removal of infected devices. Here we implicate the molecular chaperone Hsp90 as a key regulator of biofilm dispersion and drug resistance. W...