Human Pathogens and Antifungal drugs Flashcards
What are some immune evasion virulence factors?
Masking of PAMPs using capsules or pigments
Escape from immune cells
What are some robustness/stress resistance virulence factors?
Cell wall
Detoxification
What are some morphological transition virulence factors?
Yeast to hypha
Spore to yeast
Spore to hypha
What are some growth in host virulence factors?
37 degrees
Host derived nutrients
Adaptation to niches
What are some adhesion/invasion virulence factors?
Biofilm formation
Translocation
What are some damage virulence factors?
Physical forces
Secreted enzymes
Toxins
What are the prerequisites for life in or on humans?
The ability to grow well at 37 degrees
The ability to utilize many different carbon and nitrogen sources, and to scavenge for limiting elements
The ability to recognize and adapt to the conditions within the human host, which are very different from those outside
What happened after the asteroid hit Earth?
Fungi took over, need to decompose all of that dead matter
What do superficial/cutaneous mycoses affect?
Affects skin, hair, and nails
What do subcutaneous mycoses affect?
Affects muscle and connective tissue immediately below the skin; mainly tropical
What do systemic (invasive) mycoses affect?
Involves internal organs
Primary vs. opportunistic
What do allergic mycoses affect?
Affects lungs or sinuses
Patients may develop chronic conditions
What is a Malassezia infection?
Superficial/cutaneous
Can induce skin inflammation
Is the cause of dandruff
Obligate lipophile: colonizers around sebaceous glands
When does the maximum density of Malassezia occur?
Between the late teens and early middle age
Where do species utilizing keratin colonize and what do they cause?
Colonize hair, nails, and skin
Cause tinea (ringworm), tinea pedis (athlete’s foot), and toenail infection
Where do dermatophytes derive from?
Ascomycetes, specifically the order Onygenales in the class Eurotiomycetes
Candida is found in what percent of people?
Found in 40-60% of healthy adults and is one of the most common human-associated fungi
What is a candida infection?
Superficial/cutaneous
An ascomycete of the class Saccharomycetes
Infections are formed mostly by the yeast stage
Is the primary cause of candidiasis and thrush
What can cause serious Candida infections?
Antibiotic therapy and immunodeficiency
What do subcutaneous infections include and what fungi primarily cause them?
Include a variety of mycoses that develop in muscle and connective tissue
Mostly ascomycetes
What is Sporthrix?
A fungi that causes the subcutaneous infection sporotrichosis that is mostly acquired by traumatic injury
What other fungi can cause subcutaneous infections?
Zygomycetes
Dark hyphal fungi
Onygenales
What is a primary, systemic infection?
True fungal pathogens that can overcome the physiological and cellular defenses of the normal human host by changing their morphological form
Tend to be geographically restricted
Primary systemic fungal infections are mostly what?
Dimorphic
Who can primary systemic fungi infect?
Healthy individuals; cultures represent a severe biohazard to laboratory personnel and must be handled with extreme caution in an appropriate pathogen-handling cabinet
What is the primary site of infection of a primary systemic fungi?
Usually pulmonary, following the inhalation of conidia