Fungal Diseases

Candida auris remained a serious public health threat in the United States, and a cat-transmitted fungal infection made its way to the U.S. for the first time.

To go along with our recent feature on fungal diseases, we asked Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD, chair of molecular microbiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, why Candida auris emerged nearly simultaneously on three continents.

In January, the CDC warned physicians to be cautious when prescribing topical antifungals in light of the recent detection of antimicrobial-resistant superficial fungal infections in the United States.

Researchers writing in Open Forum Infectious Diseases recently provided a snapshot of the antifungal pipeline, which includes some drugs with novel mechanisms of action to overcome resistance.

Numerous barriers prevent the common use of fungal preparations in the dermatology setting, such as the belief that clinical diagnosis is sufficient and the lack of a required Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment certification, along with the notion that it is difficult to obtain, according to recent survey findings.