Trichoderma after crossing kingdoms: infections in human populations

ABSTRACT

Trichoderma is a saprophytic fungus that is used worldwide as a biocontrol and biofertilizer agent. Although considered nonpathogenic until recently, reports of human infections produced by members of the Trichoderma genus are increasing. Numerous sources of infection were proposed based upon patient data and phylogenetic analysis, including air, agriculture, and healthcare facilities, but the deficit of knowledge concerning Trichoderma infections makes patient treatment difficult. These issues are compounded by isolates that present profiles which exhibit high minimum inhibitory concentration values to available antifungal drugs. The aim of this review is to present the global distribution and sources of infections that affect both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts, clinical features, therapeutic strategies that are used to treat patients, as well as highlighting treatments with the best responses. In addition, the antifungal susceptibility profiles of Trichoderma isolates that have emerged in recent decades were examined and which antifungal drugs need to be further evaluated as potential candidates to treat Trichoderma infections are also indicated.

KEYWORDS:

• Trichoderma
• Trichodermosis
• biological control agents
• opportunistic infection
• antifungals

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article/supplementary material.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10937404.2023.2172498

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Nível Superior (CAPES) and the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC)