Celebrated between 18-24 November each year, the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week seeks to raise awareness of global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and to promote best practices among the general public, health workers, farmers, animal health professionals, and policymakers to reduce the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections. Multiple factors have accelerated the threat of AMR worldwide—including overuse and misuse of medicines in humans, livestock, and agriculture, as well as poor access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Antifungal resistance has been recognized as a serious health problem by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from the USA. According to CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/antifungal-resistance.html): "This resistance can occur when antifungal drugs are used improperly to treat sick people (e.g., when dosages are too low, or when treatment courses are not long enough), or even when antifungal drugs are used properly. Use of fungicides in agriculture to prevent and treat fungal diseases in crops can also contribute to resistance in people exposed to those fungicides."

This year, World Antimicrobial Resistance Week is focusing on 'Antimicrobials: Handle with Care'. Around the world researchers and scientists are being encouraged to recognize that everyone can be an Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness champion. In honor of this initiative, Frontiers in Fungal Biology is launching a series of Research Topics to promote awareness about the worldwide burden of antifungal resistance, share information about its impact and consequences, and highlight the important place of fungal biology and clinical research in the global response to AMR.

This Research Topic aims to highlight how advances in fungal biology, pathogenesis and antimicrobial stewardship may help to prevent or combat antifungal resistance across various infections in humans, animals, and plants. We welcome manuscripts that explore themes such as, but not limited to:

• One health and sustainable development
• Residual antifungals in soil
• Wastewater effluents containing antifungals
• Antifungal susceptibility testing methods
• Global burden of antifungal resistance
• Epidemiology of antifungal resistance in Humans
• Epidemiology of antifungal resistance in Animals
• Epidemiology of antifungal resistance in the Agriculture
• Emergence of antifungal multidrug resistant pathogens (AfMRP)
• The impact of Climate Changes on the emergence of AfMRP
• Outbreaks of invasive infections by AfMRP
• Molecular mechanisms of antifungal resistance
• Antifungal tolerance
• Impact of antifungal stewardship programs
• Microbiome and antifungal resistance
• New tools for detecting antifungal resistance
• New strategies for treating fungal infections by AMRP

This research topic is part of our UN special series World Antimicrobial Resistance Week, which also includes:
World Antimicrobial Resistance Week 2021: mechanisms of fungal response to antimicrobials

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