introduction

Question 1

what are fungi?

Answer 1

eukaryotic organisms, equal in rank to plants and animals, which absorb nutrients and break down organic material into simple molecules

Question 2

how many species of fungi

Answer 2

1.6 million

Question 3

how many pathogens to man

Answer 3

300

Question 4

three main types of fungi

Answer 4

moulds, yeats and dimorphic

Question 5

moulds

Answer 5

filamentous e.g. Aspergillus

Question 6

yeasts

Answer 6

predominately unicellular e.g, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Question 7

dimoprhic

Answer 7

switch between ben filamentous and yeast

Question 8

dimorphic fungi respond to

Answer 8

change in the environment e.g. candida

Question 9

fungi and nutrient utilisation

Answer 9

acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment.

Question 10

fungi are

Answer 10

saprophytes

Question 11

how common are fungal infections

Answer 11

most people will have a fungal infection at some point, millions suffer from life threatening invasive infections harder to diagnose and teat

Question 12

CDC have recently estimated that

Answer 12

the yearly global burden of cryptococcal meningitis to be 1 million cases, with more than 162,500 deaths in sub-sharan africa

Question 13

membrane disrupting agents

Answer 13

polyenes

Question 14

ergosterol synthesis inhibitors

Answer 14

azoles and allyamines

Question 15

DNA synthesis inhibitors

Answer 15

flucytosine

Question 16

Gluten synthesis inhibitors

Answer 16

echinocandins.

Question 17

main 4 classes of antifungals used to treat systemic intection

Answer 17

polyenes, flucytosine, azaleas, echinocandins

Question 18

ergosterol

Answer 18

membrane sterol in fungi (equivalent to cholesterol)- stabilises the phospholipid bilayer