New Antifungal Provides Hope in the Fight Against Superbugs (sciencedaily.com)

dryriver shares news about the ongoing war against drug-resistant fungus. ScienceDaily reports: Microscopic yeast have been wreaking havoc in hospitals around the world -- creeping into catheters, ventilator tubes, and IV lines -- and causing deadly invasive infection. C. auris is particularly problematic because it loves hospitals, has developed resistance to a wide range of antifungals, and once it infects a patient doctors have limited treatment options.

But in a recent Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy study, researchers confirmed a new drug compound kills drug-resistant C. auris, both in the laboratory and in a mouse model that mimics human infection. The drug works through a novel mechanism. Unlike other antifungals that poke holes in yeast cell membranes or inhibit sterol synthesis, the new drug blocks how necessary proteins attach to the yeast cell wall. This means C. auris yeast can't grow properly and have a harder time forming drug-resistant communities that are a stubborn source of hospital outbreaks... The drug is first in a new class of antifungals, which could help stave off drug resistance.

Comments

Re:Safe anti-fungals are are hard to find.

[PopeRatzo]

That makes it hard to find antifungals that have a high therapeutic index:

But they do exist. For example, soaking your feet in a 75-25 mixture of white vinegar and generic Listerine (eucalyptus and menthol) will completely eradicate foot and nail fungus. You don't have to spend big money on creams or sprays, just buy a gallon of vinegar and a bottle of grocery store chain generic Listerine and soak your feet. You can even reuse the mixture.

When my dad was really old, he got this nasty foot and nail fungus. Nothing seemed to help for long. His doctor (who happened to be from one of the countries Trump calls a "shithole") told me to try the vinegar foot soak. Worked like a charm, infection never came back.

Re:Safe anti-fungals are are hard to find.

[dgatwood]

But they do exist. For example, soaking your feet in a 75-25 mixture of white vinegar and generic Listerine (eucalyptus and menthol) will completely eradicate foot and nail fungus. You don't have to spend big money on creams or sprays, just buy a gallon of vinegar and a bottle of grocery store chain generic Listerine and soak your feet. You can even reuse the mixture.

The outer layers of your skin are dead anyway, so it doesn't matter if you cover it with poison (unless the poison happens to be absorbable transdermally). But if you drink enough of that 75-25 mixture of white vinegar and Listerine, you're probably going to die, and if you try to inhale it, you're almost definitely going to die.

That's the problem; we don't just need antifungal medications to treat external infections, but also for fungi in places where they can't be killed chemically and washed away, like in people's lungs, intestines, etc.