ASPECTS OF FUNGAL PATHOGENESIS IN HUMANS

Fungal diseases have become increasingly important in the past few years. Because few fungi are professional pathogens, fungal pathogenic mechanisms tend to be highly complex, arising in large part from adaptations of preexisting characteristics of the organisms' nonparasitic lifestyles. In the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of microbiology 2001-01, Vol.55 (1), p.743-772
Main Authors: van Burik, Jo-Anne H, Magee, Paul T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Disease
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fungi
Fungi - genetics
Fungi - pathogenicity
Fungi, Pathogenic
Genetics
Genome, Fungal
Host-parasite relationships
Humans
Immunocompetence
Microbiology
mucosal fungal infections
Mycoses - classification
Mycoses - immunology
Mycoses - microbiology
opportunistic fungal pathogens
Opportunistic Infections - immunology
Opportunistic Infections - microbiology
Parasites
Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains
Physiological aspects
primary fungal pathogens
systemic fungal infections
Virulence
Virulence (Microbiology)
virulence factors
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Summary:Fungal diseases have become increasingly important in the past few years. Because few fungi are professional pathogens, fungal pathogenic mechanisms tend to be highly complex, arising in large part from adaptations of preexisting characteristics of the organisms' nonparasitic lifestyles. In the past few years, genetic approaches have elucidated many fungal virulence factors, and increasing knowledge of host reactions has also clarified much about fungal diseases. The literature on fungal pathogenesis has grown correspondingly; this review, therefore, will not attempt to provide comprehensive coverage of fungal disease but focuses on properties of the infecting fungus and interactions with the host. These topics have been chosen to make the review most useful to two kinds of readers: fungal geneticists and molecular biologists who are interested in learning about the biological problems posed by infectious diseases, and physicians who want to know the kinds of basic approaches available to study fungal virulence.
ISSN:0066-4227
1545-3251
DOI:10.1146/annurev.micro.55.1.743