Kruithoff, C.; Gamal, A.; McCormick, T.S.; Ghannoum, M.A. Dermatophyte Infections Worldwide: Increase in Incidence and Associated Antifungal Resistance. Life2024, 14, 1.
Kruithoff, C.; Gamal, A.; McCormick, T.S.; Ghannoum, M.A. Dermatophyte Infections Worldwide: Increase in Incidence and Associated Antifungal Resistance. Life 2024, 14, 1.
Kruithoff, C.; Gamal, A.; McCormick, T.S.; Ghannoum, M.A. Dermatophyte Infections Worldwide: Increase in Incidence and Associated Antifungal Resistance. Life2024, 14, 1.
Kruithoff, C.; Gamal, A.; McCormick, T.S.; Ghannoum, M.A. Dermatophyte Infections Worldwide: Increase in Incidence and Associated Antifungal Resistance. Life 2024, 14, 1.
Abstract
The increase in incidence of superficial fungal infections combined with the emergence of antifungal resistance represents both a global health challenge and a considerable economic burden. Recently, dermatophytes, the main culprit causing superficial fungal infections, have started to exhibit antifungal resistance. This can be observed in some of the most common species such as Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Importantly, the new subspecies, known as Trichophyton indotineae, has been reported to show high resistance to terbinafine, a first-line treatment for dermatophyte infections. Compounding these issues is the realization that diagnosing the causative infectious agents requires using molecular analysis that goes beyond the conventional macroscopic and microscopic methods. These findings emphasize the importance of conducting antifungal susceptibility testing to select the appropriate antifungal necessary for successful treatment. Implementing these changes may improve clinical practices that combat resistant dermatophyte infections.
Keywords
Incidence; Terbinafine; Dermatophytes; Trichophyton; T. rubrum; T. mentagrophytes; T. indotineae; Superficial Fungal Infection
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
