Effects of Agricultural Fungicide Use on Aspergillus fumigatus Abundance, Antifungal Susceptibility, and Population Structure

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is an increasing threat to human health. In the case of Aspergillus fumigatus , which is an environmental fungus that also causes life-threatening infections in humans, antimicrobial resistance is suggested to arise from fungicide use in agriculture, as the chemicals used for plant protection are almost identical to the antifungals used clinically. However, removing azole fungicides from crop fields threatens the global food supply via a reduction in yield. In this study, we survey crop fields before and after fungicide application. We find a low overall azole resistance rate among agricultural isolates, as well as a lack of genomic and population impact following fungicide application, leading us to conclude azole use on crops does not significantly contribute to resistance in A. fumigatus .