Microbial communities where cells cooperate have increased drug tolerance — ScienceDaily

Research from the Francis Crick Institute has revealed a key mechanism which increases tolerance to drugs amongst microbial communities. The findings could help the development of more effective antifungal treatments.

Antimicrobial drug resistance and tolerance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites no longer respond, or have less sensitivity, to treatments. It is a major issue within medicine, for example, invasive fungal infections are responsible for 1.6 million deaths annually.

“Around the world, more people die each year from invasive fungal species than from malaria. There are currently only three classes of antifungal drugs in clinical use and in an increasing number of cases, these antifungals fail. Understanding the mechanisms which increase or decrease the chance of a drug working is crucial to aid the developments of new treatments,” explains Jason Yu, co-first…

Read more…