title: The future of fungal susceptibility testing.
abstract: The antifungal treatment failures and the emergence of resistant fungal strains have stimulated the need for reproducible and clinically relevant antifungal susceptibility testing (AFST). While the standard reference methods are not intended for routine use, commercial methods are widely used for performing AFST. However, to accelerate AFST and to improve the detection of antifungal resistance, which is the most challenging goal of AFST, novel assays have been developed. Following brief drug exposures of fungal cells, the new antifungal susceptibility end points seem to provide a reliable means of identifying fungal isolates, which harbor mutations that have been associated with antifungal resistance. This article summarizes the recent progress in AFST that is destined to enhance its clinical utility in the near future.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Section of Hygiene, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Brunella
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Posteraro
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanguinetti
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000187:drug effects; D002175:Candida / Q000187:drug effects; D025141:Drug Resistance, Fungal / Q000187:drug effects; D005658:Fungi; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents
keywords: CLSI; EUCAST; MALDI-TOF MS; PAO culture; X-plate technology; antifungals; flow cytometry; isothermal microcalorimetry; molecular resistance detection; susceptibility testing