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Estimated Burden of Fungal Infections in Oman
Journal of Fungi Article Estimated Burden of Fungal Infections in Oman Abdullah M. S. Al-Hatmi 1,2,3,* , Mohammed A. Al-Shuhoumi 4 and David W. Denning 5 1 Department of microbiology, Natural & Medical Sciences Research Center, University of Nizwa, Nizwa 616, Oman 2 Department of microbiology, Centre of Expertise in Mycology Radboudumc/CWZ, 6500 Nijmegen, The Netherlands 3 Foundation of Atlas of Clinical Fungi, 1214GP Hilversum, The Netherlands 4 Ibri Hospital, Ministry of Health, Ibri 115, Oman; [email protected] 5 Manchester Fungal Infection Group, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +968-25446328; Fax: +968-25446612 Abstract: For many years, fungi have emerged as significant and frequent opportunistic pathogens and nosocomial infections in many different populations at risk. Fungal infections include disease that varies from superficial to disseminated infections which are often fatal. No fungal disease is reportable in Oman. Many cases are admitted with underlying pathology, and fungal infection is often not documented. The burden of fungal infections in Oman is still unknown. Using disease frequencies from heterogeneous and robust data sources, we provide an estimation of the incidence and prevalence of Oman’s fungal diseases. An estimated 79,520 people in Oman are affected by a serious fungal infection each year, 1.7% of the population, not including fungal skin infections, chronic fungal rhinosinusitis or otitis externa. These figures are dominated by vaginal candidiasis, followed by allergic respiratory disease (fungal asthma). An estimated 244 patients develop invasive aspergillosis and at least 230 candidemia annually (5.4 and 5.0 per 100,000). -
Turning on Virulence: Mechanisms That Underpin the Morphologic Transition and Pathogenicity of Blastomyces
Virulence ISSN: 2150-5594 (Print) 2150-5608 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/kvir20 Turning on Virulence: Mechanisms that underpin the Morphologic Transition and Pathogenicity of Blastomyces Joseph A. McBride, Gregory M. Gauthier & Bruce S. Klein To cite this article: Joseph A. McBride, Gregory M. Gauthier & Bruce S. Klein (2018): Turning on Virulence: Mechanisms that underpin the Morphologic Transition and Pathogenicity of Blastomyces, Virulence, DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2018.1449506 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2018.1449506 © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group© Joseph A. McBride, Gregory M. Gauthier and Bruce S. Klein Accepted author version posted online: 13 Mar 2018. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 15 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=kvir20 Publisher: Taylor & Francis Journal: Virulence DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2018.1449506 Turning on Virulence: Mechanisms that underpin the Morphologic Transition and Pathogenicity of Blastomyces Joseph A. McBride, MDa,b,d, Gregory M. Gauthier, MDa,d, and Bruce S. Klein, MDa,b,c a Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792, USA; b Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 1675 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792, USA; c Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 1550 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA. -
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Protein Biosurfactants
colloids and interfaces Review Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Protein Biosurfactants David L. Cheung * and Suman Samantray School of Chemistry, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +353-91-492450 Received: 19 August 2018; Accepted: 6 September 2018; Published: 8 September 2018 Abstract: Surfaces and interfaces are ubiquitous in nature and are involved in many biological processes. Due to this, natural organisms have evolved a number of methods to control interfacial and surface properties. Many of these methods involve the use of specialised protein biosurfactants, which due to the competing demands of high surface activity, biocompatibility, and low solution aggregation may take structures that differ from the traditional head–tail structure of small molecule surfactants. As well as their biological functions, these proteins have also attracted interest for industrial applications, in areas including food technology, surface modification, and drug delivery. To understand the biological functions and technological applications of protein biosurfactants, it is necessary to have a molecular level description of their behaviour, in particular at surfaces and interfaces, for which molecular simulation is well suited to investigate. In this review, we will give an overview of simulation studies of a number of examples of protein biosurfactants (hydrophobins, surfactin, and ranaspumin). We will also outline some of the key challenges and future directions for molecular simulation in the investigation of protein biosurfactants and how this can help guide future developments. Keywords: biosurfactants; molecular dynamics simulation; protein structure; interfacial science 1. Introduction In order to control the properties of surfaces and interfaces, many organisms have evolved specialised surface active biomolecules, such as protein or peptide biosurfactants, which fulfill a number of key biological functions [1,2]. -
Antifungals for Onychomycosis & Systemic Infections
Clinical Policy: Infectious Disease Agents: Antifungals for Onychomycosis & Systemic Infections Reference Number: OH.PHAR.PPA.70 Effective Date: 01/01/2020 Last Review Date: N/A Coding Implications Line of Business: Medicaid Revision Log See Important Reminder at the end of this policy for important regulatory and legal information. Description: INFECTIOUS DISEASE AGENTS: AGENTS FOR ONYCHOMYCOSIS NO PA REQUIRED “PREFERRED” PA REQUIRED “NON-PREFERRED” GRIFULVIN®V tablets (griseofulvin, microsize) ITRACONAZOLE (generic of Sporanox®) GRISEOFULVIN suspension (generic of LAMISIL Granules (terbinafine) Grifulvin®V) ONMEL® (itraconazole) GRIS-PEG® (griseofulvin, ultramicrosize) SPORANOX® 100mg/10ml oral solution TERBINAFINE (generic of Lamisil®) (itraconazole) INFECTIOUS DISEASE AGENTS: AGENTS FOR SYSTEMIC INFECTIONS NO PA REQUIRED “PREFERRED” PA REQUIRED “NON-PREFERRED” FLUCONAZOLE (generic of Diflucan®) CRESEMBA® (isavuconazonium) FLUCONAZOLE suspension (generic of ITRACONAZOLE capsules (generic of Diflucan®) Sporanox®) FLUCYTOSINE (generic of Ancobon®) NOXAFIL® (posaconazole) KETOCONAZOLE (generic of Nizoral®) ORAVIG® (miconazole) SPORANOX® 100mg/10ml oral solution (itraconazole) VORICONAZOLE (generic of Vfend®) TOLSURA (itraconazole) FDA Approved Indication(s): Antifungals are indicated for the treatment of: • aspergillosis • blastomycosis • bone and joint infections • candidemia • candidiasis • candidiasis prophylaxis • candiduria • cryptococcal meningitis • cryptococcosis • cystitis Page 1 of 9 CLINICAL POLICY Infectious Disease Agents: -
HYD3, a Conidial Hydrophobin of the Fungal Entomopathogen Metarhizium
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.13.149757; this version posted June 15, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 HYD3, a conidial hydrophobin of the fungal entomopathogen Metarhizium 2 acridum induces the immunity of its specialist host locust 3 4 Zeyuan Jiang1, Petros Ligoxygakis2, Yuxian Xia1* 5 1Genetic Engineering Research Center, School of Life Sciences, Chongqing 6 University, Chongqing 400045, People’s Republic of China. 2Department of 7 Biochemistry, South Parks Rd, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QU United 8 Kingdom 9 *Corresponding author: [email protected] 10 Abstract: Conidial hydrophobins in fungal pathogens of plants1,2, insects3,4, and 11 humans5,6 are required for fungal attachment and are associated with high virulence. 12 They are believed to contribute to the pathogenesis of infection by preventing immune 13 recognition5,6. Here, we refute this generalisation offering a more nuanced analysis. 14 We show that MacHYD3, a hydrophobin located on the conidial surface of the 15 specialist entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium acridum, activates specifically the 16 humoral and cellular immunity of its own host insect, Locusta migratoria 17 manilensis (Meyen) but not that of other non-host insects. When topically applied to 18 the cuticle, purified MacHYD3 improved the resistance of locusts to both specialist 19 and generalist fungal pathogens but had no effect on the fungal resistance of other 20 insects, including Spodoptera frugiperda and Galleria mellonella. Hydrophobins 21 extracted from the generalist fungal pathogens M. -
Mucormycosis of the Central Nervous System
Journal of Fungi Review Mucormycosis of the Central Nervous System 1 1,2, , 3, , Amanda Chikley , Ronen Ben-Ami * y and Dimitrios P Kontoyiannis * y 1 Infectious Diseases Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel 2 Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel 3 Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA * Correspondence: [email protected] (R.B.-A.); [email protected] (D.P.K.) These authors contribute equally to this paper. y Received: 6 June 2019; Accepted: 7 July 2019; Published: 8 July 2019 Abstract: Mucormycosis involves the central nervous system by direct extension from infected paranasal sinuses or hematogenous dissemination from the lungs. Incidence rates of this rare disease seem to be rising, with a shift from the rhino-orbital-cerebral syndrome typical of patients with diabetes mellitus and ketoacidosis, to disseminated disease in patients with hematological malignancies. We present our current understanding of the pathobiology, clinical features, and diagnostic and treatment strategies of cerebral mucormycosis. Despite advances in imaging and the availability of novel drugs, cerebral mucormycosis continues to be associated with high rates of death and disability. Emerging molecular diagnostics, advances in experimental systems and the establishment of large patient registries are key components of ongoing efforts to provide a timely diagnosis and effective treatment to patients with cerebral mucormycosis. Keywords: central nervous system; mucormycosis; Mucorales; zygomycosis 1. Introduction Mucormycosis is the second most frequent invasive mold disease after aspergillosis [1–3], with rising incidence reported in some countries [4–7]. -
Botrytis Cinerea Andreas Mosbach1, Michaela Leroch1, Kurt W Mendgen2, Matthias Hahn1*
Mosbach et al. BMC Microbiology 2011, 11:10 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/11/10 RESEARCHARTICLE Open Access Lack of evidence for a role of hydrophobins in conferring surface hydrophobicity to conidia and hyphae of Botrytis cinerea Andreas Mosbach1, Michaela Leroch1, Kurt W Mendgen2, Matthias Hahn1* Abstract Background: Hydrophobins are small, cysteine rich, surface active proteins secreted by filamentous fungi, forming hydrophobic layers on the walls of aerial mycelia and spores. Hydrophobin mutants in a variety of fungi have been described to show ‘easily wettable’ phenotypes, indicating that hydrophobins play a general role in conferring surface hydrophobicity to aerial hyphae and spores. Results: In the genome of the grey mould fungus Botrytis cinerea, genes encoding three hydrophobins and six hydrophobin-like proteins were identified. Expression analyses revealed low or no expression of these genes in conidia, while some of them showed increased or specific expression in other stages, such as sclerotia or fruiting bodies. Bhp1 belongs to the class I hydrophobins, whereas Bhp2 and Bhp3 are members of hydrophobin class II. Single, double and triple hydrophobin knock-out mutants were constructed by consecutively deleting bhp1, bhp2 and bhp3. In addition, a mutant in the hydrophobin-like gene bhl1 was generated. The mutants were tested for germination and growth under different conditions, formation of sclerotia, ability to penetrate and infect host tissue, and for spore and mycelium surface properties. Surprisingly, none of the B. cinerea hydrophobin mutants showed obvious phenotypic defects in any of these characters. Scanning electron microscopy of the hydrophobic conidial surfaces did not reveal evidence for the presence of typical hydrophobin ‘rodlet’ layers. -
Oral Antifungals Month/Year of Review: July 2015 Date of Last
© Copyright 2012 Oregon State University. All Rights Reserved Drug Use Research & Management Program Oregon State University, 500 Summer Street NE, E35 Salem, Oregon 97301-1079 Phone 503-947-5220 | Fax 503-947-1119 Class Update with New Drug Evaluation: Oral Antifungals Month/Year of Review: July 2015 Date of Last Review: March 2013 New Drug: isavuconazole (a.k.a. isavunconazonium sulfate) Brand Name (Manufacturer): Cresemba™ (Astellas Pharma US, Inc.) Current Status of PDL Class: See Appendix 1. Dossier Received: Yes1 Research Questions: Is there any new evidence of effectiveness or safety for oral antifungals since the last review that would change current PDL or prior authorization recommendations? Is there evidence of superior clinical cure rates or morbidity rates for invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis for isavuconazole over currently available oral antifungals? Is there evidence of superior safety or tolerability of isavuconazole over currently available oral antifungals? • Is there evidence of superior effectiveness or safety of isavuconazole for invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis in specific subpopulations? Conclusions: There is low level evidence that griseofulvin has lower mycological cure rates and higher relapse rates than terbinafine and itraconazole for adult 1 onychomycosis.2 There is high level evidence that terbinafine has more complete cure rates than itraconazole (55% vs. 26%) for adult onychomycosis caused by dermatophyte with similar discontinuation rates for both drugs.2 There is low -
Epidemiological Alert: COVID-19 Associated Mucormycosis
Epidemiological Alert: COVID-19 associated Mucormycosis 11 June 2021 Given the potential increase in cases of COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM) in the Region of the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) recommends that Member States prepare health services in order to minimize morbidity and mortality due to CAM. Introduction In recent months, an increase in reports of cases of Mucormycosis (previously called zygomycosis) is the term used to name invasive fungal infections (IFI) COVID-19 associated Mucormycosis (CAM) has caused by saprophytic environmental fungi, been observed mainly in people with underlying belonging to the subphylum Mucoromycotina, order diseases, such as diabetes mellitus (DM), diabetic Mucorales. Among the most frequent genera are ketoacidosis, or on steroids. In these patients, the Rhizopus and Mucor; and less frequently Lichtheimia, most frequent clinical manifestation is rhino-orbital Saksenaea, Rhizomucor, Apophysomyces, and Cunninghamela (Nucci M, Engelhardt M, Hamed K. mucormycosis, followed by rhino-orbital-cerebral Mucormycosis in South America: A review of 143 mucormycosis, which present as secondary reported cases. Mycoses. 2019 Sep;62(9):730-738. doi: infections and occur after SARS CoV-2 infection. 1,2 10.1111/myc.12958. Epub 2019 Jul 11. PMID: 31192488; PMCID: PMC6852100). Globally, the highest number of cases has been The infection is acquired by the implantation of the reported in India, where it is estimated that there spores of the fungus in the oral, nasal, and are more than 4,000 people with CAM.3 conjunctival mucosa, by inhalation, or by ingestion of contaminated food, since they quickly colonize foods rich in simple carbohydrates. -
An Aggressive Case of Mucormycosis
Open Access Case Report DOI: 10.7759/cureus.9610 An Aggressive Case of Mucormycosis Donovan Tran 1 , Berndt Schmit 2 1. Diagnostic Radiology, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, Tucson, USA 2. Radiology, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, Tucson, USA Corresponding author: Donovan Tran, [email protected] Abstract Mucormycosis is an aggressive fungal disease that can occur in individuals with certain predisposing factors, such as diabetes mellitus and pharmacologic immunosuppression. An astounding aspect of this disease is the speed at which it can spread to surrounding structures once it begins to germinate inside the human body. This case involves a 24-year-old male patient who presented to the emergency room complaining of a headache after a dental procedure who developed fulminant rhinocerebral mucormycosis within days. The objective of this report is to shed light on how fast this disease spreads, discuss current management of rhinocerebral mucormycosis, and illustrate the subtle, but critical radiographic findings to raise clinical awareness for this life-threatening disease. Categories: Emergency Medicine, Radiology, Infectious Disease Keywords: rhinocerebral mucormycosis, mucormycosis, rhizopus, invasive fungal sinusitis, retroantral fat, isavuconazole Introduction We share our world with fungi. They are ubiquitous in nature; current estimates put the number of fungal species to be as high as 5.1 million [1]. As plentiful as they are, only hundreds of these species are pathogenic to humans, collectively killing more than 1.6 million people annually [2]. Common fungi that cause illness are Aspergillus species, Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, Blastomyces dermatitidis, and Rhizopus species. The term mucormycosis refers to any fungal infection caused by fungi belonging to the Mucorales order [3]. -
Comparison of DNA Extraction Methodologies Used for Assessing Fungal Diversity Via ITS Sequencing
HHS Public Access Author manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptJ Environ Author Manuscript Monit. Author Author Manuscript manuscript; available in PMC 2015 December 21. Published in final edited form as: J Environ Monit. 2012 March ; 14(3): 766–774. doi:10.1039/c2em10779a. Comparison of DNA extraction methodologies used for assessing fungal diversity via ITS sequencing William R. Rittenoura, Ju-Hyeong Parkb, Jean M. Cox-Ganserb, Donald H. Beezholda, and Brett J. Greena aAllergy and Clinical Immunology Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Rd., Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. [email protected]; Tel: +1 304-285-5721 ext 7 bField Studies Branch, Division of Respiratory Disease Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA Abstract Traditional methods of assessing fungal exposure have been confounded by a number of limiting variables. The recent utilization of molecular methods such as internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing of ribosomal RNA genes has provided improved insight into the diversity of fungal bioaerosols in indoor, outdoor and occupational environments. However, ITS analyses may also be confounded by a number of methodological limitations. In this study, we have optimized this technology for use in occupational or environmental studies. Three commonly used DNA extraction methodologies (UltraClean Soil kit, High Pure PCR Template kit, and EluQuik/DNeasy kit) were compared in terms of sensitivity and susceptibility to PCR inhibitors in dust for three common fungal bioaerosols, Aspergillus versicolor, Rhizopus microsporus and Wallemia sebi. Environmental dust samples were then studied using each extraction methodology and results were compared to viable culture data. -
Comparative Analysis of Surface Coating Properties of Five
www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Comparative analysis of surface coating properties of fve hydrophobins from Aspergillus Received: 10 May 2018 Accepted: 18 July 2018 nidulans and Trichoderma reseei Published: xx xx xxxx Lex Winandy1, Felix Hilpert2, Oleksandra Schlebusch1 & Reinhard Fischer1 Fungal hydrophobins are small amphiphilic proteins that self-assemble into monolayers on hydrophobic:hydrophilic interfaces and can be used for surface coatings. Because e.g. Aspergillus nidulans contains six diferent hydrophobins, it is likely that they have diferent properties and are used for diferent “applications” in the fungus. We established a method for recombinant production of diferent class hydrophobins in Escherichia coli. We produced DewA, DewC, DewD, DewE from A. nidulans and HFBI from Trichoderma reesei and compared surface coating properties of these hydrophobins. All tested proteins formed coatings on glass, strongly increasing the hydrophobicity of the surface, and showed emulsion-stabilizing properties. But whereas the typical class I hydrophobin DewA formed the most stable coating on glass, the intermediate class hydrophobins DewE and DewD were more efective in stabilization of oil:water emulsions. This work gives insights into correlations between structural characteristics of hydrophobins and their behaviour as surface binding agents. It could help with the clarifcation of their biological functions and lead to novel biotechnological applications. Hydrophobins are small amphiphilic proteins that self-assemble into monolayers on hydrophilic and hydropho- bic surfaces and change their properties1–3. Fungi secrete these proteins to reduce surface tension and support hyphae growth or to increase the hydrophobicity of conidiospores, aerial hyphae and fruiting bodies2,4,5. Hydrophobins are cysteine rich proteins that are characterized by four intramolecular disulfde bridges6.