Gonzalo Sánchez de la Nieta, Álvaro Tablado, Mercedes Urtasun and Mónica Velasco
August 23rd 2018
Nowadays, it is difficult to find someone who has not coped with any fungal infection in their life. As far as we know, almost 300 fungal species produce disease in humans. Moreover, the rate of fungal infections is increasing due to factors such as the aging population, global warming, the consumption of drugs and the misuse of certain antibiotics.
The commonest infectious fungi worldwide are the ones belonging to Candida genus.These yeasts are normally found in the intestinal tract, mucous membranes and skin without causing infection. However, their overgrowth can cause candidiasis, a common fungal infection that thrives on any moist, cutaneous area of the body.
Recently, a team of researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering have managed to find a cure against Candida’s most infectious yeast, Candida albicans. They used Bacillus subtilis, a gram-positive bacterium that is normally found in the ground. These bacteria naturally secrete Bacillomycin D, a polypeptide that shows antifungal activity and inhibits Candida sppgrowth. It is already used by farmers to fight against fungal infections on their plants.
The researches have succeeded in treating Candidainfections in mice by using a gel composed mainly of Bacillus subtilis that penetrates the affected area of the skin but does not reach the underlying blood vessels. This is a good alternative to avoid the current standard pharmaceutical model in which the drug passes through the entire body and portions of it may be broken down in the process.
They observed that the group of mice treated showed “rapid skin healing while in the control groups, not treated at all, the infection continued to develop”. They are now trying to use these treatment in humans. Undoubtedly, this new discovery opens a whole new field on treating fungal infections and diseases caused not only byCandida, but by many other fungi that nowadays are a serious threaten to worldwide health.
Source: Solomon, S. (2018). Technion Researchers Use Soil Bacteria to Tame Fungal Infections. The Times of Israel. www.timesofisrael.com/technion-researchers-use-soil- bacteria-to-tame-fungal-infections/. Last visit: September 21st2018.
Me parece muy interesante esta aproximación. Nunca había leído nada parecido. ¡Lucha bacteria-hongo "cuerpo a cuerpo" para acabar con una infección fúngica! Os recomiendo ver el vídeo en el URL de la la noticia original.