Deadly human fungal infections caused by certain strains of Aspergillus fungi appear to be developing resistance to current drug treatments at an alarming rate, say scientists working at UHSM.

University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues in Newark, USA, have developed a new test that can not only better diagnose Aspergillus infection, but can also spot signs of antifungal resistance to azoles – the class of drugs used to treat patients with aspergillosis.

Using the new test, which uses direct molecular detection rather than culturing the fungus in a Petri dish, the team found that 55 per cent of aspergillosis patients had telltale signs known as ‘markers’ that indicated they had developed resistance to azoles. The findings compare to resistance rates of 28 per cent carried out by the team just two years ago using traditional culturing methods.

Furthermore, the study – published in the prestigious US journal Clinical Infectious Diseases – discovered azole-resistance markers in three-quarters of the small number of aspergillosis patients who had never been treated with an azole, suggesting widespread dissemination of resistance.