Dear Colleagues,

Globally, over 300 million people are afflicted by a serious fungal infection and 25 million are at risk of dying or losing their sight. Among fungal infections, invasive infections, such as cryptococcosis, candidiasis, aspergillosis, blastomycosis, histoplasmosis, coccidioidomicosis, and pneumocystosis, are the most common and the most life-threatening. These infections have risen dramatically over the last 20 years, some over 14-fold. Reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that over 1,300,000 people are dying every year because of these invasive fungal infections, and, most likely, this is an underestimated figure. This mortality rate is similar to that of malaria (~1,240,000/year) and tuberculosis (~1,400,000/year).

While there are about 30 branded prescription antifungal drugs on the market, three classes of antifungals are mainly used to manage these types of invasive fungal infections: 1) Azoles, such as fluconazole launched in the mid-1980s, 2) polyenes, such as amphotericin B launched in the mid-1950s, and 3) echinocandins, such as caspofungin launched in early 2000.

However, in recent years, the increased use of current azoles has led to an increase in drug resistance, limiting their effectiveness. In addition, drug-drug interaction issues are a major impediment to the use of the azoles voriconazole, itraconazole and posaconazole. Their interactions with cancer chemotherapy agents and immunosuppressants are particularly difficult to handle clinically. Systemic antifungals, such as amphotericin B, tend to have relatively high toxicity and side effects. The echinocandins have a lower incidence of adverse events compared to older antifungals but they bind highly to serum proteins and their antifungal spectrum of activity is very narrow. There is the need for antifungal compounds more effective and safe versus current antifungals.

This Special Issue is designed to highlight the latest research and development on new antifungal compounds with mechanisms of action different than the ones of polyenes, azoles, and echinocandins. Authors are specifically chosen as experts in those fields and who are actively researching these topics.

Prof. Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta
Guest Editor

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• Invasive fungal infections
• Fungal meningitis
• Fungal pneumonia
• Drug resistance
• Antifungal drugs
• Cryptococcus neoformans
• Candida albicans
• Aspergillus fumigatus
• Blastomyces dermatitidis
• Histoplasma capsulatum
• Coccidioides immitis
• Pneumocystis jirovecii