Posts By: Graham Atherton

This week, Isavuconazole (Cresemba) will become available in Europe for the first time, following its recent launch in the USA. This is the first new antifungal agent launched for 9 years. It has a broad spectrum, intravenous and oral formulations, is required only once daily and a very good safety profile. Following the FDA approval… Read more »

In May 2015, GAFFI issued a call to reduce AIDS deaths to under 500,000 by 2020 by provision of fungal diagnostics and antifungal therapies (GAFFI Roadmap).  In conjunction with increasing antiretroviral therapy coverage (90-90-90-  meaning action on fungal diseases will achieve a million more HIV survivors each year by 2020), diagnostics are also required for… Read more »

Over 1000 attendees at the Trends in Medical Mycology (TIMM) meeting in Lisbon from 63 countries, heard how many serious fungal infections there are estimated to be in Mozambique, Madagascar, Pakistan, Algeria, Venezuela, Serbia, Greece, Portugal and France. Around 390 million people live in these countries and the fungal problems seen in each. vary substantially…. Read more »

In the Journal Mycoses, Denning and 47 co-authors from across the world have estimated the number of people affected by serious  fungal diseases in a population of 636 million in 15 countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Nepal, Qatar, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Germany, Mexico, Senegal, Tanzania, Ukraine, Vietnam. These estimates have never been attempted… Read more »

On 25th September, the UN formally adopted its 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 targets for 2030. These goals build on and expand the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and integrate the economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development. Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) along with other major risk factors are linked to several of… Read more »

At the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Conference in Amsterdam the first world guidelines for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis have been presented by GAFFI’s president Professor Denning. The guidelines have been drawn up in conjunction with the ERS and ESCMID and will be published in the European Respiratory Journal in October. The guidelines describe the 5 clinical… Read more »

An increased working collaboration between the UK and China was reinforced today at the UK-China Health Policy Dialogue, by Vice Premier Liu Yandong and Minister for Health Jeremy Hunt. Areas of increased co-operation included multi-level health systems support, new antimicrobial development and health infrastructure support in Africa. There was also a focus on antimicrobial resistance…. Read more »

In Israel, 40,000 people are estimated to suffer from fungal rhinosinusitis, and unprecedented figure and the first national estimate of this problem. About 800,000 (10%) Israelis are thought to suffer from rhinitis. Fungal rhinosinusitis takes many forms and is often associated with asthma, but not always. The terminology for allergic fungal rhinosinusits is slightly confused… Read more »

Early in August, Professor Denning visited Lanzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Guangzhou meeting clinicians, visiting laboratories and educating physicians about the large burden of fungal disease and the opportunity for improved diagnostics. He cited one example from China of the likely number of deaths from invasive aspergillosis in COPD patients. Of the estimated 32.8 million people… Read more »

Guatemala could soon be leading the way in providing better fungal diagnostic services for HIV patients in Central America, thanks to a partnership between the Asociación de Salud Integral (ASI), and Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI). Amongst a population of 14.7 million, an estimated 58,000 people are HIV infected, but only 15,136 patients… Read more »