Vaccination against fungal diseases: lessons from Candida albicans

The advances in medicine have achieved great benefits by improving or even eliminating various debilitating diseases or malignancies, expanding life expectancy. However, it has also originated the development of a compromised population susceptible to opportunistic diseases. A global major concern is the emergence and spread of life-threatening invasive infections in immunocompromised patients, in which the opportunistic fungal infections have greatly increased in the last decades. The high mortality rates associated with these infections, which remain as high as 40%, are due to the limited therapeutic options and the emergence of drug-resistant fungi, but also due to the lack of efficient early diagnosis. Consequently, these facts led to the opinion that new approaches are needed to improve the outcome of these patients, such as immunopreventive strategies that could even be combined with standard antifungal treatment. In view of the proven effectiveness of various antibacterial and antiviral vaccines in preventing the respective diseases, several works have been developed to induce protective immunity against fungal infections as well. The better understanding of how the immune system works against fungal pathogens has made possible to explore immunomodulatory strategies that can protect both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts and generate memory. Recently, two fungal vaccines against Candida have advanced through clinical trials. However, there are still many challenges in the development of an efficient vaccine against invasive fungal infections. We will provide an update on the progress made in immunization against fungal infections, reviewing host-fungi interactions, antigens, and adjuvants exploited in vaccine strategies, and discuss concerns that need to be overcome to further advance in the area of fungal vaccines.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genotyping fungal outbreaks and molecular epidemiology: the state of the art

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Production of secreted aspartyl proteinases by candida sp. clinical isolates : effects of fluconazole

Resumo da comunicação apresentada no congresso Candida and Candidiasis realizado em Março de 2004 em Austin, Texas EUA

Aleitamento materno nos RN do CHUCB por cesariana vs via vaginal, nos primeiros 6 meses de vida

Introdução: O aleitamento materno é um ato imprescindível para qualquer recémnascido, na medida em que fornece toda a energia essencial ao seu desenvolvimento. A World Health Organization e a United Nations Children´s Fund recomendam que o contacto precoce pele-a-pele deve ocorrer o mais cedo possível após o parto e que a amamentação deve iniciar-se na primeira hora de vida do recém-nascido. Esta recomendação advém do facto deste contacto precoce aumentar a duração de amamentação e contribuir para o sucesso do aleitamento exclusivo. Nos partos por cesariana do Centro Hospitalar Universitário Cova da Beira o contacto precoce pele-a-pele e o aleitamento materno na primeira hora não acontecem, ao contrário do que se verifica na maioria dos partos via vaginal. Objetivos: Avaliar a duração e exclusividade do aleitamento materno dos recém-nascidos com parto por cesariana versus recém-nascidos com parto vaginal, do Centro Hospitalar Universitário Cova da Beira, nos primeiros seis meses de vida. Metodologia: A amostra de estudo incluiu os recém-nascidos termo com parto no período compreendido entre 1 de julho de 2018 e 30 de junho de 2019. Recorreu-se à plataforma SClinic® e a chamadas telefónicas para a recolha de dados e, de seguida, na análise estatística utilizou-se o software SPSS®. Resultados: A maioria dos recém-nascidos que tiveram um parto vaginal receberam leite materno durante mais de 6 meses (71,6%) e a maioria dos recém-nascidos que tiveram um parto por cesariana foram amamentados menos de 6 meses (48,4%). Por outro lado, a maior parte dos recém-nascidos que nasceram por cesariana, não amamentaram de forma exclusiva (53,8%), enquanto a maioria dos recém-nascidos que nasceram por via vaginal, amamentaram de forma exclusiva (64,2%). Conclusão: Verificou-se que a duração do aleitamento materno e a prática de amamentação exclusiva é significativamente superior no grupo com parto vaginal, em comparação com o grupo com parto por cesariana. Tal discrepância pode dever-se à inexistência de contacto precoce pele-a-pele nos partos por cesariana do Centro Hospitalar Universitário Cova da Beira.Introduction: Breastfeeding is an indispensable act to any newborn, as it provides all the essential energy to its development. World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund recommend that immediate skin-to-skin contact must occur as soon as possible after birth and that breastfeeding should initiate within the first hour after newborn delivery. This recommendation stems from the fact that immediate skin-to-skin contact increases the duration and contributes to the exclusivity of breastfeeding. In cesarean sections of Centro Hospitalar Universitário Cova da Beira, immediate skin-toskin contact and breastfeeding in the first hour do not happen, unlike most vaginal deliveries. Objectives: To evaluate length and exclusivity of breastfeeding in newborns with cesarean sections versus vaginal deliveries, in the first six months of life, at Centro Hospitalar Universitário Cova da Beira. Methodology: The study’s sample included full-term neonates in the period between the 1 st of July 2018 and 30th of June 2019. SClinic® platform and telephone calls were used to collecting data, followed by statistical analysis in which was applied SPSS® software. Results: Most newborns that had a vaginal delivery, received breastfeeding for a period higher than 6 months (71.6%), and most of those that had cesarean section were breastfed less than 6 months (48.4%). Additionally, most cesarean section newborns did not receive exclusive breastfeeding (53.8%), whereas most of the vaginal delivery group received exclusive breastfeeding (64.2%). Conclusion: It was showed that the breastfeeding rate and its exclusive practice are significantly higher in vaginal deliveries, in comparison with the cesarean section group. This discrepancy may be due to the lack of skin-to-skin contact in cesarean sections of Centro Hospitalar Universitário Cova da Beira

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight intact cell mass spectrometry to detect emerging pathogenic Candida species

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight intact cell mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-ICMS) was used to differentiate pathogenic Candida species, difficult to identify by traditional methods such as growth and biochemical reactions. Results showed that species complexes like C. parapsilosis, C. orthopsilosis, and C. metapsilsosis, and very closely related species like C. glabrata and C. bracarensis, and C. albicans and C. dubliniensis could be clearly separated. MALDI-TOF-ICMS stands out as a promising tool for the rapid detection of emerging pathogens.Research leading to these results received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Program (FP7 2007-2013), Research Infrastructures Action, under grant agreement no. FP7-228310 (EMbaRC project)

Identification of candida clinical isolates by PCR fingerprinting : a contribution to the study of molecular epidemiology of candidiasis in portugal

PCR fingerprinting with a single non-specific primer (T3B) was used to type yeast clinical isolates obtained from two Medical Institutions in north Portugal. Of the 177 strains isolated, 112 were obtained from vaginal swabs, 24 from urine, 23 from the upper respiratory system, seven from the anal mucosa and 11 were isolated from various sources including blood, pus, catheter and peritoneal fluid. All the isolates belonged to the genus Candida being the profiles obtained highly similar within a species and clearly distinct among species. Seven different species were identified: C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata, C. guilliermondii, C. parapsilosis, C. krusei and C.lusitaniae. This methodology also allowed the distinction of C. dubliniensis which is very closely related to C. albicans. Cluster analysis of the global fingerprints obtained originated, in general, groups corresponding to each species analysed except for five strains which were submitted to 26S and ITS rDNA sequencing to confirm their identity. We demonstrate that although C. albicans is the predominant species found, other Candida species were present accounting for over 20% of the strains isolated. The most common non albicans species were C. tropicalis, C. glabrata and C. parapsilosis. Due to its predominance over the other species C. albicans was present in all types of clinical material except in blood samples. C. tropicalis was mainly recovered from the urine and respiratory tract. This study represents the first large-scale approach to the knowledge of Candida species present in hospital settings in Portugal.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) Ciências do Ambiente da Universidade do Minho (CCA