Candida Awareness: Overview of Characteristics, Resistance to Antifungal Agents, and Biocontrol by Natural Products

Candida species have long been recognized as harmless commensals associated with humans.These organisms are typically located on the mucosal surfaces of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts, as well as on human skin.Nonetheless, they can act as opportunistic pathogens in patients with weakened immune systems and those who are immunocompromised.The increase in morbidity and mortality associated with Candida is reported to be alarming on a global scale (Nosocomial infections), primarily because Candida is the primary cause of hospitalacquired infections.Over the past few years, there has been a tremendous gain in our understanding of the mechanisms and components that contribute to infections.Furthermore, new virulence mechanisms have been identified recently.In conclusion, this review provide an update on the understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of this important human pathogen and explore the use of natural products as antifungal agents.According to Kainz et al. (2020), 1.7 million people died as a result of fungal diseases.Aspergillus and Candida spp.account for the massive of illnesses (Divyashree et al., 2023).The medical strain of fungal infections, however, extends far beyond these serious death rates.Fungal infections impact over one billion people each year, with more than 150 million instances being severe and lifethreatening.Importantly, the number of instances is always increasing (Hou et al., 2020).It can result in a variety of infections that are typically referred to as fungal infections in humans.Candida are unicellular, usually dimorphic fungi and cause opportunistic fungal diseases (Nash et al., 2017).Candida infections range from superficial cutaneous to mucosal infections to multiple organs widespread infections (Sardi et al., 2013).These organisms can colonize human skin (Kuhbacher et al., 2017), gastrointestinal (Neville et al., 2015), and reproductive tracts (Barousse et al., 2004).Since much research concentrates on its ability to cause infection, Candida albicans is the most widely researched member of the genus (Kojic & Darouiche, 2004;Spellberg et al., 2005;Thompson III et al., 2010).The respiratory system, central nervous system, eye, bronchial region, cardiovascular area, and urine bladder can all get infected by invasive and multi-organ yeast infections (Sardi et al., 2013; Vermitsky et al., 2008).Immunocompromised individuals continue to be most susceptible to fungal infections, which have been identified as the most common cause of human disease since the end of the twentieth century (Pfaller & Diekema, 2007).Most of these infections occur in immunocompromised individuals and originate from the gastrointestinal tract (Miranda et al.,2009).According to Guessous-Idrissi et al., (2007), immunosuppression is still one of the most prevalent warning signs for infection.A significant rise in Candida infections has resulted from immunosuppressive disorders like AIDS and treatments that suppress the immune system like intense chemotherapy.These infections are currently one of the main reasons for hospital death and infection.Distributed forms of candidiasis can be fatal in immunocompromised cancer patients and those receiving multiple treatments, with mortality rates ranging from 35-60% (Seleem et al., 2015;Eggimann et al., 2015).While Candida albicans is the most isolated yeast in America, there are emerging non-Albicans species, and patient specimens from other countries show higher numbers of these species (Blot et al., 2008).Nevertheless, it's crucial to note that the collection of species other than Candida albicans has increased recently (Taei et al., 2019;Singh et al.,2020).These species include C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis,