A retrospective study by Ambinder and colleagues showed azole antifungal prophylaxis (AFP) added no improvement in the overall survival of newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia patients receiving venetoclax and a hypomethylating (Ven/HMA) agent. Patients who received azole antifungal prophylaxis had an inferior overall survival, with 34% of patients receiving AFP having died by day 120 compared to 25% of those not receiving AFP. Find more here.

The underestimation of the burden of fungal keratitis worldwide posed by negative fungal cultures and microscopy may soon be nibbed. RID-MyC, a new rapid molecular tool for diagnosing fungal keratitis developed by Aravind Eye Hospital in India, demonstrated a sensitivity of 82.1% and specificity of 76.9% compared with the in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) standard, in smear and culture-negative cases. Concordance between RID-MyC and IVC was observed in 80.5% of the cases and takes <10 minutes to do. Find more here.

A Swedish study comparing MALDI-TOF systems reported the Sirius One system showed higher sensitivity than the Microflex 3.1 in the detection of moulds; achieving a 92.6% correct identification rate for moulds with the Mass Spectrometry Identification (MSI)-2 database, compared with 70.6% for Microflex (p <0.01). In addition, the MSI system was seen to outperform the Bruker’s manufacturer library in identification to species level. Find more here.

A randomised controlled trial conducted in India affirmed early empirical antifungal therapy improves survival in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure and invasive fungal infections (IFIs), compared with pre-emptive therapy (based on positive diagnostic markers). The significant findings were a higher treatment success and resolution of IFIs, and a lower in-hospital and IFI-attributable mortality in the empirical group (55.6% vs 75.9%; P = 0.003). In addition, fewer adverse events and an increased cost-effectiveness were observed. Find more here.

A Brazilian autopsy-based case series (2017 to 2019) of yellow fever patients reported pneumonia or haemorrhage in the respiratory tract as the immediate cause of death in 31 (42.4%) cases. Microscopy detected yeasts and hyphae in 27 (37%) and 9 (12%) cases, morphologically similar to Candida species, and Aspergillus species, respectively. Further analysis using Sanger sequencing of tissue samples from 48 cases identified Candida species in 10 (47.6%) cases, Aspergillus in 4 (19%), and Trichosporon in 2 (9.5%). Find more here.