Growing mold together –moving beyond standard cultures in assessing fungi in the CF airway

Airway infections and progressive lung disease associated with microbial colonization of the respiratory tract are hallmark features seen in people with cystic fibrosis (CF). Traditionally, cultures from the respiratory tract have been used to identify bacterial pathogens. Antibiotics are used to treat acute worsening of symptoms (i.e. pulmonary exacerbations), suppress chronic infection, or eradicate bacteria after initial isolation. Over the past two decades, this approach has been complicated by two parallel trends in the understanding of the microbiome in the CF respiratory tract: the increasing recovery of fungi from airway cultures and the use of novel laboratory techniques that have demonstrated a much more diverse and complex airway microbiome than previously understood by standard culture alone.
Source: Journal of Cystic Fibrosis - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research