Tulip bulbs imported into Ireland from the Netherlands may be helping to spread resistance to vital antifungal medicines called Triazoles that treat potentially fatal fungal infections. That is according to research showing that the inter-country transfer of bulbs of Holland's iconic flowers may inadvertently have opened up a new transport route for a particularly nasty fungal pathogen called Aspergillus fumigatus.
Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Trinity College Dublin, Tom Rogers, led the research that has recently been published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Among the headline findings are that samples taken from five out of six imported tulip-bulb packages cultured A. fumigatus resistant to Voriconazole — the leading antifungal therapy in Aspergillosis — while some isolates showed cross-resistance to other Triazole antifungals. Prior work had already confirmed that resistant fungi can also be found in the environment, so, once arrived and established, the threat may extend far beyond the life of the pretty flowers with which it has just been associated.
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