Abstract
New advances have been made in the serodiagnosis and chemotherapy of fungal diseases and interest in these subjects is currently at peak level. However, the escalating incidence of opportunistic fungal infections, in patients who are debilitated, receiving immunosuppressive therapy, and those who are being treated aggressively for other dis-eases, dictate that improved procedures be developed for the rapid presumptive serologic diagnosis of these diseases along with better antifungal strategies to manage them. This need will continue to increase as a result of the growing number of individuals who are becoming afflicted with the human immunodeficiency virus (AIDS).
Traditional serologic procedures based on detection of antibody are frequently misleading as a result of the changing patterns of disease in the susceptible population and tests that detect antigen have been helpful in identifying some cases, but problems still exist. The technic of DNA hybridization and polymerase chain reaction provide newer approaches worthy of exploitation.
In parallel with the growing incidence of life-threatening fungal infections and efforts to devise tests that rapidly diagnose and monitor them has been the need for and development of new antifungal agents, elucidation of their mechanisms of action, and novel strategies for their delivery. While many improvements have been made there is still problems with toxicity, specificity of action, and efficacy. Research focused on detailing the molecular biology of fungal pathogens provides an alternative strategy for drug development.
