Image: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently working with other federal agencies on how to use expert input when evaluating antibacterial and antifungal pesticides. While recognizing the benefits of pesticides, the agencies are aiming to inform the public, pesticide users, potential consumers and animal and human health communities of their negative impact on public and animal health. In this document they are citing two collaborative research papers from the Momany (PBIO) and Brewer (PlantPath) labs. Publications (click for links): Celia-Sanchez, B. N., Mangum, B., Gómez Londoño, L. F., Wang, C., Shuman, B., Brewer, M. T., & Momany, M. (2024). Pan-azole-and multi-fungicide-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus is widespread in the United States. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 90(4), e01782-23. Kang, S. E., Sumabat, L. G., Melie, T., Mangum, B., Momany, M., & Brewer, M. T. (2022). Evidence for the agricultural origin of resistance to multiple antimicrobials in Aspergillus fumigatus, a fungal pathogen of humans. G3, 12(2), jkab427. Background: The research of the Momany and Brewer labs shows that fungal pathogens such as Aspergillus fumigatus are increasingly resistant to Azoles, which are widely used in agriculture as fungicides to protect crops against fungal pathogens. Azoles are also widely used in clinical settings, and are currently the most effective treatment for fungal infections, but resistance to clinical azoles has been emerging worldwide and is spreading across the U.S. Because different azole-resistant fungal strains can recombine and exchange their resistance genes, fungicide resistance is expected to spread even further.
