Short communication: Cold atmospheric plasma inactivation of Prototheca zopfii isolated from bovine milk.

Mastitis is a serious bovine diseases that can be caused by Prototheca zopfii, yeast-like algae belonging to the family Chlorellaceae. The substantial economic losses and health damage associated with bovine mastitis emphasize the need to develop effective strategies aimed at control of the infection. Unfortunately, P. zopfii is highly resistant to most common antibacterial and antifungal agents, as well as to heat treatment. We report here the first attempt to use cold atmospheric plasma to inactivate this pathogen. We studied 20 strains of P. zopfii isolated from milk samples taken from cows with clinical or subclinical mastitis. The studies confirmed the high level of resistance of P. zopfii to typical antifungal agents, such as voriconazole, fluconazole, amphotericin B, caspofungin, anidulafungin, and micafungin. In contrast, each of the strains revealed high susceptibility to cold atmospheric plasma, >2-fold higher compared with a reference strain of Candida albicans. The obtained results are promising and open up a new approach in the fight against P. zopfii.

Analysis of the relationship between fluconazole consumption and non-C. albicans Candida infections.

The effect of fluconazole consumption on the incidence of nosocomial non-C. albicans Candida infections remains unclear. In this study we investigated such a relationship in an intensive care unit (Poland) over an 11-year period (2002-2012). Statistics relating to the number of candidiasis cases and the number of defined daily doses of fluconazole showed that only a very weak and not statistically significant linear correlation existed between these two variables (r(2) = 0.36, P = 0.052). However, the assumption of a 1-year delay in the infection response to changes in fluconazole concentrations resulted in a strong and statistically significant linear correlation (r(2) = 0.64, P = 0.0053). To more accurately determine the nature of this relationship, a simple epidemiological model was proposed that provided a better than linear correlation (r(2) = 0.78, P = 0.00077). We successfully used this approach to analyze results from the literature that were interpreted as evidence that fluconazole use is not a risk factor for development of non-C. albicans Candida infections. If a time delay in the infection response was assumed, a strong and statistically significant correlation was obtained. These findings suggest the need for a closer look at fluconazole therapy as a possible risk factor for development of non-C. albicans Candida infections.