Antifungal Drug Resistance - Concerns for Veterinarians

In the 1990s, there were increased incidences of fungal infectious diseases in human population which might be due to increase in immunosuppressive diseases. But the major concern was increase in prevalence of resistance to antifungal drugs which were reported both in the fungal isolates of human beings and that of animal origin. In both animals and human beings, resistance to antimicrobial agents has important implications for morbidity, mortality and health care costs, because resistant strains are responsible for bulk of infection in animals and human beings, and large number of antimicrobial classes offers more diverse range of resistance mechanisms to study and resistance determinants move into standard well-characterized strains that facilitates the detailed study of molecular mechanisms of resistance in microorganisms. Studies on resistance to antifungal agents has been lagging behind that of antibacterial resistance for several reasons, the foremost reason might be fungal agents were not recognized as important animal and human pathogens, until relatively in recent past. But the initial studies of antifungal drug resistance in the early 1980s, have accumulated a wealth of knowledge concerning the clinical, biochemical, and genetic aspects of this phenomenon. Presently, exploration of the molecular aspects for antifungal drug resistance has been undertaken. Recently, the focus was on several points like developing a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance, improved methods to detect resistance when it occurs, methods to prevent the emergence and spread of resistance and new antimicrobial options for the treatment of infections caused by resistant organisms. [Vet. World 2009; 2(5.000): 204-207]