Mixed bacterial-fungal infections in the CF respiratory tract

Abstract

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common genetic disease whose major clinical manifestations include repeated episodes of airway infection and inflammation that ultimately result in premature death from respiratory failure. The consequences of infection by individual bacteria have been well studied and the evidence is building that fungal pathogens may be playing an important role in lung disease progression. In contrast, though many CF patients have airway infections characterized by the presence of both bacteria and fungi, our understanding of the impact of such polymicrobial infections on the host is limited. In this review, we discuss what is currently known about incidence of mixed bacterial-fungal infections, and the potential consequences of these mixed infections on the progression of CF lung disease.