Widely used fungicide found to be driving C. tropicalis infections

Candida tropicalis is an important fungal pathogen in India and many parts of the world. Its infections are associated with a mortality rate of 55-60%. Anti-fungal drugs called azoles, such as fluconazole and voriconazole, are used to treat its infections.

- GNS News Agency, July 2

But there is a growing concern in medical circles that clinics are seeing an increasing number of infections by strains of C. tropicalis that exhibit high resistance to these drugs. What is driving this alarming increase in drug resistance?A paper published recently in PLoS Biology by researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai has provided the answer. They found that an azole-related fungicide called tebuconazole widely used by farmers and gardeners, and which can accumulate and persist in the environment has driven the increase in azole-resistant C. tropicalis infections seen in clinics. The team also found that tebuconazole-resistant strains exhibited aneuploidy — meaning their chromosome number showed differences from the normal chromosome count for the organism. Such deviation from the normal chromosome complement is known as ploidy plasticity.