SUSCEPTIBILITY TEST FOR FUNGI: CLINICAL AND LABORATORIAL CORRELATIONS IN MEDICAL MYCOLOGY

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Main Authors: Ana ALASTRUEY-IZQUIERDO, Marcia S.C. MELHEM, Lucas X. BONFIETTI, Juan L. RODRIGUEZ-TUDELA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2015
• Subjects: Susceptibility test; Fungi; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46652015000700011; https://doaj.org/article/06459328ba4149d1ac5e4331962a02aa

SUMMARYDuring recent decades, antifungal susceptibility testing has become standardized and nowadays has the same role of the antibacterial susceptibility testing in microbiology laboratories. American and European standards have been developed, as well as equivalent commercial systems which are more appropriate for clinical laboratories. The detection of resistant strains by means of these systems has allowed the study and understanding of the molecular basis and the mechanisms of resistance of fungal species to antifungal agents. In addition, many studies on the correlation of in vitro results with the outcome of patients have been performed, reaching the conclusion that infections caused by resistant strains have worse outcome than those caused by susceptible fungal isolates. These studies have allowed the development of interpretative breakpoints for Candida spp. and Aspergillus spp., the most frequent agents of fungal infections in the world. In summary, antifungal susceptibility tests have become essential tools to guide the treatment of fungal diseases, to know the local and global disease epidemiology, and to identify resistance to antifungals.