New research from the University of Georgia has shown, for the first time, that compounds used to fight fungal diseases in plants are causing resistance to antifungal medications used to treat people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study focused on Aspergillus fumigatus<\/em>, the fungus that causes aspergillosis<\/a>, a disease that causes life-threatening infections in 300,000 people globally each year. Published in G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, the study<\/a> linked agricultural use of azoles \u2014 compounds used to fight fungal diseases in plants \u2014 to diminished effectiveness of the clinical azoles used to treat fungal infections in patients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur results show that resistance to the compounds used to combat fungal infections in humans is developing in agricultural environments,\u201d said Marin T. Brewer<\/a>, a corresponding author of the study and an associate professor of mycology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences<\/a>. \u201cThe samples that we collected in agricultural settings were resistant to both the azoles used in the environment and the clinical azoles used to treat people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fungi can be a menace for both people and plants, causing over 1.5 million human deaths annually and crop losses of 20%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not unusual to find A. fumigatus<\/em> in the environment. It\u2019s airborne and it\u2019s everywhere. Most people breathe it in without problem, but it can cause serious infections in people who have weakened immune systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When they\u2019re infected by a strain of the fungus that\u2019s resistant to agricultural azole fungicide, the clinical azole drugs used in health care are also ineffective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAzole-resistant A. fumigatus<\/em> is widespread in agricultural environments and especially things like compost,\u201d said Michelle Momany, a corresponding author of the study and a professor of fungal biology in the Department of Plant Biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences<\/a>. \u201cSomeone who is immunocompromised and at risk for fungal infections should be very cautious in those settings.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brewer and Momany, both members of UGA\u2019s interdisciplinary Fungal Biology Group<\/a>, led a team that collected samples of soil, plant material and compost from 56 sites in Georgia and Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the sites had recently been treated with a mix of fungicides including azoles and other fungicides that are only used in agriculture, not in patients. But two of the sites were organic and hadn\u2019t used fungicides in over a decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After recovering strains of A. fumigatus<\/em>, the researchers found 12 that were highly resistant to azoles used in agriculture and medicine. The 12 strains also exhibited high levels of resistance to two non-azole fungicides that are not used to treat people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers used whole genome sequencing to create a genetic family tree for A. fumigatus<\/em> strains from the environment and from patients. They found that the mechanisms of azole resistance they identified in the strains from agricultural environments matched what they saw in patients. The azole-resistant strains from patients were also resistant to the non-azole fungicides that are never used in people, showing that these strains had been in agricultural environments before the patients were infected. <\/p>\n\n\n\nTreatment-resistant fungus is widespread in ag industry <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Strains of treatment-resistant fungus on farms closely related to those in hospitals <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n