Resistant Pathogens, Fungi, and Viruses

Reproductive clonality of pathogens: a perspective on pathogenic viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasitic protozoa.

We propose that clonal evolution in micropathogens be defined as restrained recombination on an evolutionary scale, with genetic exchange scarce enough to not break the prevalent pattern of clonal population structure, a definition already widely used for all kinds of pathogens, although not clearly formulated by many scientists and rejected by others. The two main manifestations of clonal evol...

Molecular evolution of the fungi: human pathogens.

The morphological, ecological, and clinical diversity among ascomycete fungi that are pathogenic to humans suggest that the potential for pathogenicity may have arisen multiple times within these higher fungi. We have obtained 18S ribosomal DNA sequences from a diverse group of human pathogenic fungi in order to determine their evolutionary origins. The fungi studied include a skin pathogen tha...

Early diagnosis of resistant pathogens

Infections with organisms that are resistant to various anti-microbial agents pose a serious challenge to effective management of infections. Resistance to antimicrobial agents, which may be intrinsic or acquired, has been noted in a wide variety of microorganisms causing human infections. These include resistance to antiviral agents in HIV, HBV, CMV and influenza virus, anti-parasitic agents i...

Rapidly Mutating Drug - Resistant Viruses

Resistance to chemicals is a common current problem in many pests and pathogens that formerly were controlled by chemicals. An extreme case occurs in rapidly mutating viruses such as Human ImmunodeeciencyVirus (HIV), where the emergence of selective drug resistance within an individualpatient may become an important factor in treatment choice. The HIV patient subpopulation that already has expe...

Oseltamivir-Resistant Influenza A Viruses