Environmental Azole Resistance Meeting 2024

The Environmental Azole Resistance Meeting has been held annually since 2022 between international scientists, government policy makers and agricultural industry.

Attendees will exchange scientific updates and all stakeholders involved will debate on how these findings affect policy making and future research directions.

Therefore, this meeting facilitates knowledge transfer between researchers, policymakers, and industry, all focused on tackling antifungal resistance. The main focus of discussion is the pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus.

Exposure to azole fungicides in the environment is a major driving force in antifungal resistance selection, and multi-azole resistant A. fumigatus genotypes are globally detected in clinical isolates.

To tackle this growing issue, attendees will discuss best practices in both understanding the prevalence of resistance and limiting the evolution and spread of resistance genotypes, and workshops will be held demonstrating surveillance protocols. This meeting will host members of a JPI-AMR funded project.

The project's goal is to develop methods to monitor the emergence of environmental azole resistance and resistance to upcoming dual-use antifungals in A. fumigatus and to provide a foundation to support the development of approaches that disconnects antifungal use in the clinic from its use in agriculture.

This meeting will host project updates and discussion on future goals.