Brian Peters, PhD, First Tennessee Endowed Chair of Excellence in Clinical Pharmacy and professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science at the UT Health Science Center, was recently awarded $3.9 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project aimed at unravelling intricate mysteries surrounding complex fungal-bacterial infections. James Cassat, MD, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Paul Fidel, PhD, LSU Health New Orleans, are also principal investigators.
Infections caused by both fungi and bacteria are on the rise among hospital patients, yet there is a significant lack of research addressing these types of infections.
Candida albicans, a leading cause of severe fungal infections, ranks among the most common causes of hospital related bloodstream infections in the U.S. Alarmingly, these fungal infections have a higher mortality rate compared to bacterial infections, with approximately 40% of infected individuals not surviving when the fungus enters the bloodstream, despite appropriate treatment. The situation is even more dire for intra-abdominal infections involving both fungi and bacteria, where mortality rates can soar to 50-75%, far surpassing the 20% mortality associated with bacteria-only infections. Additionally, fungal involvement is linked to increased relapse rates and more severe disease presentation
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