A drug combination of anti-fungal and anti-bacterial medications may be effective against the spread of a highly infectious and deadly fungus--Candida auris (C. auris). According to the Centers for Disease and Control, C. auris was first discovered in Japan and has affected individuals in more than 20 countries and sickened 643 Americans in 11 U.S. states. The fungus has baffled health officials as the search for treatment options are higher than ever.
"Few treatment options are available for patients infected with Candida auris, which causes invasive, life-threatening infections, usually in patients who are already critically ill or have compromised immune systems," said Brennan-Krohn, MD, a post-doctoral research fellow in the lab of James E. Kirby, MD, Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at BIDMC. "It has an alarming propensity to spread from patient to patient and survive on surfaces in rooms, resulting in hospital outbreaks."
Findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology discuss how the search for new treatment approaches allowed researchers to use a modified inkjet printer. The modified inkjet printer allows for rapid and uniform antimicrobial screening for the testing of antifungal drugs, amphotericin and caspofungin, in combination with two antibacterial antibiotics antibiotics, minocycline and rifampin,—to maximize the efficacy against fungal infections. Results showed three new combinations of antifungal and antibacterial drugs that demonstrated effectiveness against C. auris.
Although the dugs have not been tested in combination in C. auris-infected humans, the drugs are actually FDA-approved and presently prescribed for patients with a variety of infections.
However, if the drugs prove to eradicate C. auris infections in clinical studies, then physicians already have access to the effective treatment for their patients infected with C. auris.
Source: Science Daily
