Edition 1/96

A Reliable Source

Dr Johan Boelaert is a specialist in the field of medical mycology at a 800-bed general hospital in Bruges (Belgium). A regular client of the BCCM™/IHEM culture collection, Dr Boelaert’s research team has investigated the fungal iron metabolism.

“We have been investigating why haemodialysis patients receiving the drug desferrioxamine are at high risk from zygomycosis,” Dr Boelaert explains. “Because of renal failure, these patients have high serum concentrations of the iron complex of desferrioxamine and some fungi of the Zygomycoces genus are able to utilize the iron bound to the chelator.”

Access to selected strains with well documented characteristics are invaluable to such research, which is why Dr Boelaert frequently chooses from the BCCM™/IHEM catalogue.

Dr Boelaert believes that one of the main reasons for the increasing incidence of resistance of Candida albicans to some antifungals, such as fluconazole, is the very frequent and sometimes exaggerated use of such drugs. “Most researchers would agree that their is a global correlation between the degree of administration of antifungals and the degree of increase in resistance,” he says. “More research is needed to investigate fungal resistance mechanisms. For this we need access to well defined strains - such as those in the BCCM™/IHEM catalogue.”

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