Antifungal resistance represents a major clinical challenge to clinicians responsible for treating invasive fungal infections due to the limited arsenal of systemically available antifungal agents. In addition current drugs may be limited by drug-drug interactions and serious adverse effects/toxicities that prevent their prolonged use or dosage escalation. Fluconazole resistance is of particula...

Molecular mechanisms of azole resistance in Candida albicans, including alterations in the target enzyme and increased efflux of drug, have been described, but the epidemiology of the resistance mechanisms has not been established. We have investigated the molecular mechanisms of resistance to azoles in C. albicans strains displaying high-level fluconazole resistance (MICs, > or =64 microg/ml) ...

Background and Purpose: Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) and antifungal drug resistance are major health concerns in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The increased reports of antifungal resistance and expanding drug therapy options prompted the determination of antifungal susceptibility profile. The present study was performed to determine the antifungal susceptibility of Candid...

Widespread and repeated use of azoles, particularly fluconazole, has led to the rapid development of azole resistance in Candida albicans. Overexpression of CDR1, CDR2, and CaMDR1 has been reported contributing to azole resistance in C. albicans. In this study, hyper-resistant C. albicans mutant, with the above three genes deleted, was obtained by exposure to fluconazole and fluphenezine for 28...

OBJECTIVES To analyse the in vitro antifungal susceptibility of 261 non-albicans Candida bloodstream strains isolated during the European Confederation of Medical Mycology survey of candidaemia performed in Lombardia, Italy (September 1997-December 1999). METHODS In vitro susceptibility to flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole and voriconazole was determined using the broth mic...

Resistance to the limited number of available antifungal drugs is a serious problem in the treatment of Candida albicans. We found that aneuploidy in general and a specific segmental aneuploidy, consisting of an isochromosome composed of the two left arms of chromosome 5, were associated with azole resistance. The isochromosome forms around a single centromere flanked by an inverted repeat and ...

Candida glabrata, which can become resistant to fluconazole, is a common cause of bloodstream infection. This study was performed to determine the significance of cross-resistance to new azole drugs among C. glabrata isolates recovered as a cause of infection in azole-treated hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. Seven cases of invasive candidiasis caused by C. glabrata occurred...

BACKGROUND Yeasts represent the second cause of nail fungal infection in the world, and Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis are the two most common species. OBJECTIVES To determine the yeast species frequency and their in vitro antifungal susceptibility, obtained from patients with clinical features suggestive of onychomycosis. METHODS A prospective study was carried out in four derma...