Main description:

Fungal pathogens pose an on-going and serious threat for poikilotherms and homeotherms, and can cause a broad spectrum of diseases ranging from innocuous to life-threatening. In addition, long-term exposure to some mycotoxigenic moulds can lead to mycotoxicoses in human and animals. Given the expanding population of immune compromised hosts, the list of fungal opportunists grows longer every year. Moreover, antifungal resistance, drug-related toxicity and our limited arsenal of antifungals have exacerbated the situation. To address these problems, strategies such as the identification of novel targets, use of the structure-activity relationship in rational drug design, development of new formulations, modification of existing antifungals to combat resistance, and bioavailability enhancement are called for.

For the reader's convenience, this book has been divided into three sections. The first six chapters of Section I provide a timely review of mycoses, from endemic to cosmopolitan and from generalized to specific, while both chapters of Section II focus on risks associated with mycotoxins. In closing, the two chapters of Section III describe potential antifungal leads and drug candidates based on phytochemicals and coumarin scaffold.

Contents:

Part I Human and Animal Mycoses.- Pythiosis.- Superficial Mycoses in Dogs and Cats.- Pathogenic Chrysosporium-related Fungi in Reptiles and Other Animals.- Aspergillosis in Humans and Animals.- Some Clinically Significant Genera of Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes: An Update.- Endemic Mycoses in Americas.- Part II Mycotoxins in Relation to Human and Animal Health.- Mycotoxins and Their Inhalatory Intake Risk.- Tenuazonic acid:A Potent Mycotoxin.- Part III Antifungal Therapeutic Candidates.- Phytochemicals: New Avenues in Anti-Candidal Activity.- Recent Advances in Coumarins as Antifungal Agents.