Introduction: There has been reports on the increase cases of infections caused by drug-resistant C. auris strains in more than 30 countries which potentially can lead to an epidemic and creating a global public health concern.
There has been reports on the increase cases of infections caused by drug-resistant C. auris strains in more than 30 countries which potentially can lead to an epidemic and creating a global public health concern.
Methods: Our lab has been focused on developing novel and cost-effective antimicrobials including antifungals for several years ranging from small molecules to recombinant proteins. We were fortunate to discover a novel Bacilluss strain which by genomic sequencing it was determined that this organism to be a new species. The genome of this novel organism is larger than all the know Bacillus strains.
Results: Our testing results determined that the organism and also its extracts are highly effective against a broad spectrum of fungal pathogens including drug resistant C. auris. We consequently conducted additional testing including PCR and determined expression of antifungal products (ex. surfactants, lipoproteins). In addition, we conducted Cytotoxicity testing based on FDA accepted parameters according to ISO-10993. Our candidate therapeutic did not show any toxicity.
Discussion: Our results demonstrated efficacy of a novel and safe therapeutic for C. auris, a significant global public health concern. This study demonstrated the potential application of probiotic strains for prevention and/or treatment of wound infections caused by invasive fungal pathogens.
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