resistance

Previous research shows that patients with COVID-19 have a high chance of getting fungal infections. Medicines called antifungals are used to treat fungal infections. However, some fungi are resistant, which means the fungi are not killed by the antifungals and they keep growing, which can make the patients sicker and even die. This is a summary of a study that looked at whether different types of fungi and their resistance to antifungals changed from before COVID-19 to during the pandemic

22nd Nov 2023

A plain language summary discussing whether the COVID-19 pandemic changed resistance to current antifungal medicines

Aspergillus fumigatus (shortened to A. fumigatus) is a fungus (plural: fungi) that can cause a serious infection in some people. A. fumigatus can become resistant to medicines known as azoles (isavuconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole, and voriconazole). This means they stop working and are not able to kill the fungus. Fungi can become resistant through changes in their genes, which are called mutations. Scientists looked at previously collected samples from people infected with A. fumigatus and found that 36 of the samples showed resistance to an azole. In 35 of these samples, scientists looked for mutations in 50 genes. These 50 genes are known to play a role in azole resistance and/or are important for fungal survival.

15th Nov 2023

Plain language summary: A. fumigatus fungi samples that show resistance to antifungal medicines have changes in their genes