University of Manchester scientists studying invasive aspergillosis are both the world's most cited and the most prolific on the topic, according to an analysis published by Guangxi university in the journal Medicine.
The University tops both the global league table of publications and citations at 177 and 12,313 respectively.
The output was predominantly driven by Professor David Denning from The Manchester Fungal Infection Group (MFIG) at the The University of Manchester, the most published and most cited author at 89 papers and 9850 citations.
He was followed by Thomas J. Walsh from the United States at 72 papers and 6,036 citations, and Dimitrios P. Kontoyiannis also from the United States ranking third at 66 papers, 6404 citations.
Invasive aspergillosis a potentially lethal infection, usually of the lungs, is thought to affect over 2 million people each year.
According Professor David Denning, one of the world's leading experts on fungal disease, global outcomes for patients with invasive aspergillosis have improved markedly in recent years.
The success, he argues, is partly down to the huge amount of research activity devoted to the topic in Manchester and at centres across the globe. Professor Mike Bromley, Head of MFIG said: "We have made significant inroads to improving outcomes for patients suffering from the devastating diseases caused by Aspergillus, but much more needs to be done."
MFIG have recently worked with the WHO to highlight the need for additional efforts in antifungal drug discovery and diagnostics
However the disease still has a high mortality rate, particularly in immunocompromised people and those in intensive care, who can experience severe complications including bleeding and spread from the lungs to the brain.
Professor Denning said: 'Since I first encountered invasive aspergillosis as a trainee doctor in the mid 1980's when it was poorly understood, my clinical and research focus has been focussed on improving what was then a dismal outcome for these patients.
"Great strides in both diagnosis and treatment have been made since 2002, with what was almost a universally fatal disease before the millennium to around 30% in the best performing hospitals.
"The improvement is down to major studies, agreed diagnostic criteria and application of accepted guidelines for caring for patients.
"However there continues to be a desperate need to build on these gains in every hospital globally so we can continue to improve the outlook for these often complex and vulnerable patients.
"Working with major pharmaceutical companies on the clinical development of key antifungal drugs voriconazole, caspofungin, and micafungin and the preclinical development of anidulafungin, posaconazole and isavuconazole has been an extraordinary journey."
The figure of 177 papers dwarfs the others in the top 4: Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands published 92 papers, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston 90 papers, and the University of Texas 81 papers.
This research is supported by three major units at The University of Manchester: the Manchester Fungal Infection Group (MFIG), the National Aspergillosis Centre and the Manchester Mycology Reference Centre.
MFIG has recently been awarded some significant research grants: Prof Bromley, Dr Bertuzzi and Dr Bottery of MFIG have recently received 3 awards, totalling over £2 million from the Wellcome Trust to explore new ways of combatting fungal infection.
