Candida glabrata--unique features and challenges in the clinical management of invasive infections.

Abstract

Candida glabrata is a pathogenic yeast with several unique biological features. This article provides an up-to-date review on current data and reasoning aspects of this clinically problematic organism. Haploidy, absence of pseudohyphae, facultative anaerobe growth of C. glabrata, as well as its intrinsically low susceptibility to azole antifungals require specific consideration in diagnosis and treatment approaches. As C. glabrata today represents a sizeable percentage of pathogens in candidaemia, the use of azole antifungals in upfront therapy of invasive yeast infections is discouraged by recent guidelines. While the selection of C. glabrata mutants with impaired susceptibility to echinocandins has been described, analyses of several clinical studies indicate an association of improved outcomes with the use of echinocandins as the primary treatment for invasive yeast infections with potential or documented involvement of C. glabrata.

• Authors: A Glöckner, O A Cornely
• Journal: Mycoses (Mycoses) Vol. 58 Issue 8 Pg. 445-50 (Aug 2015) ISSN: 1439-0507 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 26207423 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review)
• Copyright: © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Chemical References

• Antifungal Agents
• Azoles
• Echinocandins

Topics

• Antifungal Agents (therapeutic use)
• Azoles (therapeutic use)
• Candida glabrata (drug effects, genetics, pathogenicity, physiology)
• Candidiasis, Invasive (diagnosis, drug therapy, epidemiology, microbiology)
• Drug Resistance, Fungal
• Echinocandins (therapeutic use)
• Humans
• Microbial Sensitivity Tests
• Mutation