Pseudomonas Synergizes with Fluconazole against Candida during Treatment of Polymicrobial Infection

Abstract

Polymicrobial infections are challenging to treat because we don’t fully understand how pathogens interact during infection and how these interactions affect drug efficacy. Candida albicans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are opportunistic pathogens that can be found in similar sites of infection such as in burn wounds and most importantly in the lungs of CF and mechanically ventilated patients. C. albicans is particularly difficult to treat because of the paucity of antifungal agents, some of which lack fungicidal activity. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of anti-fungal treatment during C. albicans - P. aeruginosa coculture in vitro and co-infection in the mucosal zebrafish infection model analogous to the lung.