Out From the Shadow of Antibiotic Resistance – Raising the Profile of Antifungal Resistance

Author:

Mrs Ange Brennan (UK)

Author address:

Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK

Abstract:

Within antimicrobial stewardship programmes, antifungals are often overlooked in favour of antibiotics. In 2020 the World Health Organization had the first meeting of their Antifungal Expert Group to prioritise areas of research and development in fungal infection treatment and diagnosis and it is hoped that this will usher in a new age of interest in antifungal development.
Current antifungals are prone to toxicity, often expensive and are increasingly acquiring resistance. An increased use of antifungals within food chains also leads to problematic resistance and a narrowing of our toolkit to treat fungal infections.
Globally, antifungal stewardship programmes are rare, often due to lack of funding rather than lack of interest. This paucity of funding means that antimicrobial pharmacists, microbiologists and clinicians in specialties such as haematology, critical care often do not have access to up-to-date equipment and diagnostics.
One way that this can be combated is the use of medical education resources (#MedEd). With our poster we aim to demonstrate the different resources that are available to fill antifungal knowledge gaps and how these are working to raise the profile of antifungal resistance in the public consciousness.
We will highlight the work that is carried out by LIFE Worldwide, The National Aspergillosis Centre, The Mycology Reference Centre, Manchester and Manchester Fungal Infection Group and how these organisations are providing open-access educational resources to train students and specialists as well as investing in outreach activities to inform the public.
We will give show how we are raising the profile of diagnostics and treatment protocols using patient case studies, YouTube videos, and an antifungal drug interaction database. We will also consider the role of social media in sharing #MedEd resources and how these impact on access to training and development.
Our work also involves including the public in a two-way dialogue about research, treatment and living with fungal disease.
Although this poster does not have a clinical focus, it is equally important to show how advances in treatment for conditions such as aspergillosis and mucormycosis are being communicated and passed on to the public and early-career researchers.

Conference Year: 2024

Conference abstracts, posters & presentations

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