High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
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Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#2From the editorial in Nature:
Around 3.8 million people die each year of infections caused by C. auris and other fungi. Annual deaths caused by fungal infections have nearly doubled in the past decade.
Pathogenic fungi pose unique challenges, and overcoming them will require innovative approaches to both science and policy. Yet, despite the growing global threat posed by drug-resistant fungi, such infections rarely loom large in discussions of antimicrobial resistance. Two World Health Organization (WHO) reports published this month (see go.nature.com/3rniybw) — the organization’s first analyses of tests and treatments for fungal infections — highlight the result of that neglect.
Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#3From the editorial in Nature: Around 3.8 million people die each year of infections caused by C. auris and other fungi. Annual deaths caused by fungal infections have nearly doubled in the past decade. Pathogenic fungi pose unique challenges, and overcoming them will require innovative approaches to both science and policy. Yet, despite the growing global threat posed by drug-resistant fungi, such infections rarely l…
Looks like this could affect how we grow crops, maybe pish for more different techniques to avoid pesticides, and also lead to new life habits.
I hope WHO or some group of researchers somewhere will start studying how to tackle these fungi infections. Given the current situation of global conflicts, political situation, and economy around the world, if these infections become more widespread and resistent if could be devastating.
Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#4What would it take to create the “mRNA moment” for antifungal drugs—something that accelerates both funding and discovery at scale? Are there promising platforms (e.g. AI drug discovery, CRISPR screening, biofoundries) that could shift the economics of developing treatments for rare but rising fungal threats?
Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#5Surgery is a real threat to get a potentially deadly fungal infection internally. Where are the options for treatment?
Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#6Practically, there's no way to stop anti-microbial resistance. We've only been capable of using said drugs for an x number of years because of the relatively long time it takes for these resistant spores to become dominant in most soil around the planet. The problem isn't really the development of resistance itself but our way of farming is the perfect petri-dish for fungal and bacterial evoluton. E.G. large monocrop fields with single-use anti-fungal spray and rinse.
Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#7What would it take to create the “mRNA moment” for antifungal drugs—something that accelerates both funding and discovery at scale? Are there promising platforms (e.g. AI drug discovery, CRISPR screening, biofoundries) that could shift the economics of developing treatments for rare but rising fungal threats?
I’m an outsider to that field, but I don’t see a reason why mRNA can’t be the “mRNA moment” - fungal vaccines are possible, and if you can find the right target protein you can make an mRNA vaccine against a particular infection.
I think it’s just a matter of priorities and funding, which fungal infections as a whole don’t get enough of in general.
Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#8//Thermotolerance Adaptation// The main reason why fungal infections typically kill only elderly and sick humans (mammals) is body temperature. Most fungi cannot survive at human body temperature (~37°C). Rising global temperatures are driving fungi to adapt by becoming more thermotolerant, enabling them to survive and replicate at human body temperatures.
Effects of climate change on fungal infections https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371%2...
Zoonotic Risk from other mammals to humans will increase similarly. Pigs, cows or poultry might become spread the adaptions and then spread them to humans.
Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#9Practically, there's no way to stop anti-microbial resistance. We've only been capable of using said drugs for an x number of years because of the relatively long time it takes for these resistant spores to become dominant in most soil around the planet. The problem isn't really the development of resistance itself but our way of farming is the perfect petri-dish for fungal and bacterial evoluton. E.G. large monocrop…
Found the „it can’t be done” guy.
Re: High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections
#10Practically, there's no way to stop anti-microbial resistance. We've only been capable of using said drugs for an x number of years because of the relatively long time it takes for these resistant spores to become dominant in most soil around the planet. The problem isn't really the development of resistance itself but our way of farming is the perfect petri-dish for fungal and bacterial evoluton. E.G. large monocrop…
Found the „it can’t be done” guy.
At least its now out in the open.