fungal infections

Question 1

what are the reasons for the dramatic increase in fungal infections during the past dacades

Answer 1

1. Increase in individuals with immunocompromised diseases like HIV
2. increase in surgical procedures increasing possibility of fungal infections
3. drug resistance
4. antibiotic use increasing the growth of candida

Question 2

what are the most important pathogenic fungi for humans?

Answer 2

1. cutaneous mycoses
   microsporum
   epidermophyton
   trichophyton

2. systemic mycoses
histoplasma capsulatum
blastomyces dermatitidis
coccidiodis immitis
paracoccidiosis braziliensis

3. opportuninstic mycoses
   candida albicans
   cryptococcus
   aspergillus fumigatus

Question 3

what kind of infections can be pathogenic fungi cause in humans

Answer 3

cutaneous infections
systemic infections
opportunistic infections

Question 4

which characteristics of pathogenic fungi contribute to their virulence?

Answer 4

1. adherence to host tissues (lectin-like adhesions, protein-protein interactions and covalent interations with host proteins)
2. Biofilm formation
3. iron uptake mechanisms
4. other mechnisms like hyphal growth and opague-white switching

Question 5

what are the different morphologies can candida albicans and how do they affect its interactions with the host

Answer 5

Budding yeast morphology and fillamentous growth.

a. swithching to fillamentous growth helps candida to invade tissues. Hyphae express gene which encode additional adhesins, enzymes and toxins which damage host cells.
b. hyphal growth help candida avoid macrophages in the host environment.

white-opague swithching
switching from normal yeast morphology to elongated opague morphology.
a. immune evasion- not recognized by nutrophils.

Question 6

how is drug resistance in candida albicans transcriptionally regulated?

Answer 6

1.