Fungal Immunology

Fungal immunology has gained relevance due to the increase of potential immunocompromised hosts, immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients, and, most recently, COVID-19-infected patients in recent years. Due to the eukaryotic origin of fungal pathogens, they have biological processes like those of humans. Antifungal agents are known to cause toxicity during therapeutic use. Currently, standardized vaccines against human infections caused by fungi are yet to be available. A variety of strategies are adopted by fungal pathogens to evade host immune responses. Various approaches such as vaccines, antibodies, cytokines, cell-mediated therapy, and adjunctive/combination therapies are being increasingly evaluated with the potential to combat fungal zoonotic infections. This chapter describes various immunological interventions for the prevention of fungal infections that are of public health importance.