Faster to the fungus: rapid diagnostic and prognostic tests for invasive fungal diseases

Swift and correct treatment of opportunistic respiratory infections is crucial to improve the prognosis and chance of survival. However, due to the nature of these infections and the immunocompromised patients, this is currently still a difficult clinical diagnosis. Over the last years, several biomarkers and diagnostic tools have been developed to aid in the diagnosis. For example, the use of galactomannan for detection of invasive Aspergillus infection has become standard of care. However, these tools still have several drawbacks, such as remaining uncertainty about therapy failure (current international guidelines suggest evaluating success of therapy at 6 weeks for invasive Aspergillus) and time delay between testing and initiation of therapy. We will therefore analyze existing data to improve current procedures, and develop and evaluate new diagnostic tools to help speed up and improve diagnosis.