Abstract
Candida albicans is normally a harmless commensal of human beings, but it can cause superficial infections of the mucosa (oral/vaginal thrush) in healthy individuals and (rarely) infections of the skin or nails. It can also become invasive, causing life-threatening systemic and bloodstream infections in immunocompromised hosts, where the mortality rate can be as high as 50 %. It is the most common cause of serious fungal infection and is a common cause of nosocomial infections in hospitals. Some strains have been recognized that are resistant to azoles or echinocandins, which are the first-line antifungals for treatment of C. albicans infections.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1145-1147 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Microbiology |
| Volume | 163 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 15 Aug 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding informationThe authors received funding support from Wellcome Trust (086827, 075470, 101873 and 200208) and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (N006364/1).
Acknowledgements
We thank Prashant Sood for help with the graphical abstract figure.
Keywords
- immune response
- drug resistance
- candida albicans
- pathogenesis
- morphogenesis
- medical mycology
Access to Document
- Microbe Profile: Candida albicans: a shape-changing, opportunistic pathogenic fungus of humans
This is an open access article published by the Microbiology Society under the Creative Commons Attribution License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/