Special Issue "Rare Fungal Infectious Agents"

A special issue of Journal of Fungi (ISSN 2309-608X). This special issue belongs to the section "Fungal Pathogenesis and Disease Control".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2024 | Viewed by 1012

Special Issue Editors

First Department of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Interests: fungal epidemiology; mucormycosis; treatment of fungal infections
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory, 4th Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Interests: clinical microbiology; medical mycology; mucormycosis; fusariosis; rare fungal infections

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the expanding population of immunocompromised patients and those treated in intensive care units, rare fungal infectious agents have emerged as important pathogens, causing invasive infections associated with high morbidity and mortality. These fungi range from extremely rare, such as Rhytidhysteron spp., to relatively “common”, such as Mucorales or Fusarium spp. In the latter case, new species, e.g., Rhizopus homothallicus, Syncephalastrum spp. or Fusarium dimerum, have been reported as being responsible for disseminated and invasive fungal diseases in humans. Diagnosis and treatment are challenging. Physicians should have a high index of suspicion because early diagnosis is of paramount importance. Conventional diagnostic methods such as cultures and histopathology are still essential, but rapid and more specific molecular techniques both for detection and identification of the infecting pathogens are being developed and will hopefully lead to early targeted treatment. The management of invasive fungal infections is multimodal. Despite the use of available antifungals, mortality remains high.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide more information about the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of invasive fungal infections due to rare fungi, helping physicians to diagnose and treat these infections more effectively.

Dr. Anna Skiada
Dr. Maria (Miranda) Drogari-Apiranthitou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Fungi is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mucormycosis
  • fusariosis
  • scedosporiosis
  • Emergomyces
  • Lomentospora
  • Apophysomyces
  • Rhytidhysteron
  • Saksenaea
  • emerging yeasts
  • emerging molds

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

Review
Rare Yeasts in Latin America: Uncommon Yet Meaningful
J. Fungi 2023, 9(7), 747; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9070747 - 14 Jul 2023
Viewed by 751
Abstract
Systemic infections caused by rare yeasts are increasing given the rise in immunocompromised or seriously ill patients. Even though globally, the clinical significance of these emerging opportunistic yeasts is increasingly being recognized, less is known about the epidemiology of rare yeasts in Latin [...] Read more.
Systemic infections caused by rare yeasts are increasing given the rise in immunocompromised or seriously ill patients. Even though globally, the clinical significance of these emerging opportunistic yeasts is increasingly being recognized, less is known about the epidemiology of rare yeasts in Latin America. This review collects, analyzes, and contributes demographic and clinical data from 495 cases of infection caused by rare yeasts in the region. Among all cases, 32 species of rare yeasts, distributed in 12 genera, have been reported in 8 Latin American countries, with Trichosporon asahii (49.5%), Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (11.1%), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (7.8%) the most common species found. Patients were mostly male (58.3%), from neonates to 84 years of age. Statistically, surgery and antibiotic use were associated with higher rates of Trichosporon infections, while central venous catheter, leukemia, and cancer were associated with higher rates of Rhodotorula infections. From all cases, fungemia was the predominant diagnosis (50.3%). Patients were mostly treated with amphotericin B (58.7%). Crude mortality was 40.8%, with a higher risk of death from fungemia and T. asahii infections. Culture was the main diagnostic methodology. Antifungal resistance to one or more drugs was reported in various species of rare yeasts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rare Fungal Infectious Agents)
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