Abstract
With the ever-increasing population of immunosuppressed individuals, there is a parallel increase in the number of invasive fungal infections. Early diagnosis and treatment is the key to successful management as the related morbidity and mortality are very high in untreated cases. Although there are several fungal species that are intrinsically resistant to some of the antifungal agents, e.g., Candida krusei to fluconazole, Aspergillus terreus to amphotericin B (AmB), etc., there has been an increase in acquired resistance to antifungal agents especially triazoles due to irrational use. Misuse of azoles in agriculture is also a major contributor to the azole-resistant Aspergillus species. We are amid a critical situation with the appearance of multidrug-resistant Candida auris worldwide that has an outbreak potential, causes invasive infections, and has a high mortality. The current chapter discusses the current worldwide prevalence of resistance rates in fungi and mechanisms of resistance. An effective institutional antifungal stewardship (AFS) program should be in place to keep resistance under check with the integration of sound clinical diagnosis and rapid and reliable laboratory services including molecular testing, antifungal susceptibility testing, therapeutic drug monitoring, etc.
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Singh, G., Xess, I. (2020). Antifungal Resistance: Current Concepts. In: Thomas, S. (eds) Antimicrobial Resistance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3658-8_7
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