Mechanisms of virulence and pathogenicity expressed by strains of Candida spp. during episodes of persistent Candidemia

• Grant number: 21/00527-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Arnaldo Lopes Colombo
• Grantee: Felipe de Camargo Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/02203-7 - Multidisciplinary and international network to characterize microbiological aspects and natural history of invasive fungal infections due Candida spp, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/01975-4 - Assessment of virulence characteristics of cells dispersed from biofilms formed by clinical isolates of Candida albicans responsible for persistent candidemia, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The annual global occurrence of Candida bloodstream infections is around 400,000 cases. Although Candidemia is a global problem, the incidence level are particularly staggering inBrazil. In a nation wide prospective multicenter study conducted, a high burden of Candidemia was reported, with 2.49-6.0 cases per 1,000 admissions (10-30 times higher than that reported in the Northern Hemisphere) with a 50% crude mortality rat. Simply put, in Brazil for every 1,000 hospital admittance, up to 6 patients will develop Candidemia and half of them will die from this infection during their hospital admission. In a recent report it was suggested that the incidence of Candidosis in Brazil is under reported and estimates put the number of cases at almost 3 million. Clearly, the management of invasive Candidiasis is a significantly bigger priority in Brazil than in the U.S. and deserves systematic investigation. Interestingly, epidemiologic studies in Brazil suggested that Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosisare the most frequent species, however, Candida auris poses the newest threat as an emerging pathogen. The problem is that although we have some well established virulence factors against Candida spp. there are few investigations evaluating the participation of the same attributes of virulence in the phenomenon of persistence of Fungemia in Candida spp. (AU)