Posts By: Graham Atherton

September 3-5th over 60 fungal disease experts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela convened in Lima, Peru  to discuss integration of new diagnostic tools that focus on antigen and antibody detection PCR (commercial and standardized) and MALDI-TOF identification… Read more »

Swarup Sarkar is an Indian physician, epidemiologist, public health professional and diplomat known for his works in the field of Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS in particular. Sarkar served as the Director of Communicable Diseases of the World Health Organization, South East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO) and is currently an advisor to international health agencies…. Read more »

The Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI) has made the case for paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) to be listed as a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) in a short paper published in Public Library of Science (PLoS) Neglected Tropical Diseases. PCM is endemic to the tropical regions of Latin America. PCM is an important cause of mortality… Read more »

  From its inception in 2013, GAFFI has focussed on improving the survival chances and impact of chronic illness across the world. GAFFI appointed Professor Patrick Francioli to its Board as part of an internal re-organisation that saw Professor David Denning step down from Board Chairman to Chief Executive of GAFFI and Professor Nigel Lightfoot… Read more »

At the 2nd meeting on Histoplasmosis in the Americas and Caribbean in Manaus, Brazil, March 22-25th 2019, the 80 by 2020 target has been superceded by 100 by 2025 target. By 2025, every country should have access to rapid testing for histoplasmosis (antigen or PCR/molecular) and availability of itraconazole and both standard and lipid formulation… Read more »

As in other low and middle income countries serious fungal infections (SFI) remain neglected in Ghana despite the rising trend globally. Most of these infections are undiagnosed or misdiagnosedleading to no treatment or wrong treatment. Low indices of suspicion among clinicians and gaps in the availability of diagnostics services and antifungal drugs are the identified… Read more »

Antifungal triazole drugs are the mainstay of treatment for fungal diseases in humans and animals, yet their effectiveness is undermined by resistance. Very similar compounds are used on many crops to reduce plant fungal disease and increase yield. Today in Amsterdam, the Global Action Fund for Fungal infections published its letter to the World Health Organisation’s Director… Read more »

  For 213 million people, the number affected by serious fungal diseases infections in Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia and Taiwan has been unknown, until today. At the Gulf Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Dubai posters showed the remarkably high numbers afflicted, especially in Africa, an estimated 4%, 7% 9% and 2% respectively…. Read more »

Currently 45% of TB diagnosis is only clinical and not confirmed with tests. Up to 20% of these diagnoses are incorrect. A common missed diagnosis is fungal lung infection. The most common of these is chronic pulmonary aspergillosis or CPA. The treatment of TB and CPA treatment is completely different and untreated CPA has an… Read more »

Around 138 million women are affected by a distressing but treatable fungal infection world-wide, according to a research review by University of Manchester scientists. And the incidence of recurrent thrush, warns lead researcher Dr Riina Rautemaa-Richardson, is set to rise to an estimated 158 million people by 2030. The team from The University of Manchester… Read more »