A team from Wolverhampton, UK and Zabrze, Poland have made some interesting discoveries when using hydrogel as a method to administer antifungals within wound dressings.
Wounds from various sources that have been in a prolonged state of irritation and rubor, with a high degree of exudate, are decidedly prone to becoming infected by various opportunistic and commensal organisms. This, coupled with an increase in antifungal resistance, has seen a surge in fungal wound infections in patients who are immuno-deficient due to chemotherapy, disease, or injury. These injuries and subsequent infections by fungal pathogens are linked with increased mortality, risk of limb loss, prolonged stays in hospital, failure of the treatment regimen, and further systemic infection.
This study applied antifungal agents to biopolymer hydrogel and recorded the results against Candida auris, Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Aspergillus niger. This study showed that thymoquinone has a comparable antifungal activity to amphotericin B, but was preferable due to the hepatoxic nature of amphotericin B.
You can read the full study here.