Revolutionary Progress To Combat Fungal Eye Infection

An all-women IIT-Delhi team develops a better antifungal strategy for fungal keratitis

- Nikita Sharma

ACCORDING to a recent study published in the medical journal Lancet, the highest annual incidence of fungal keratitis per 1 lakh people is reported in Southern Asia and India (accounting for over 50per cent of the total microbial keratitis cases). Fungal keratitis is a vegetative trauma to the eye that is caused by the infected vegetable matter such as plant leaves and often leads to fungal infection of the cornea.

According to the WHO, fungal keratitis is a leading cause of monocular blindness i.e, blindness in one eye, in the developing world. In an effort to develop a better antifungal strategy for fungal keratitis, an all-women team of IIT Delhi researchers led by Prof. Archana Chugh has developed a novel peptide-based antifungal strategy for enhanced Natamycin penetration.

“Even though the antifungal drug Natamycin, is FDA approved primary line of treatment, it suffers from significant drawback of low penetration and moderate efficacy. As a result, dosage frequency of the drug is very high (hourly basis) and therapy may be needed up to 6-8 weeks, bringing huge discomfort and blurred vision to patients. So, it became an issue of interest to us in resolving the penetrability issue of Natamycin,” says Chugh, Associate Professor, Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, IIT Delhi.