Fungal infection treatments – What you need to know
Fungal infection treatments – What you need to know

Fungal infection treatments – What you need to know

The significance of fungal infection is often neglected in society. However, fungal infections affect more than a billion people, resulting in approximately 11.5 million life-threatening infections and more than 1.5 million deaths annually.¹

The antifungals, used to treat fungal infections, are a diverse group of drugs that include inhibitors of membrane and cell wall synthesis, as well as compounds that cause alterations of fungal membranes, effects on microtubules, and inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis. These drugs can be given topically or systemically depending on the disease.²

There are three main classes of systemic antifungals; polyenes (amphotericin B), imidazoles, and triazoles, and allylamines. Topical antifungals include imidazoles, tolnaftate, terbinafine and the polyenes nystatin and amphotericin.²

The clinical outcomes for most invasive fungal infections are far from ideal and even non-invasive infections can take months, if not years, to treat. One of the main challenges to current treatment options is the emergence of antifungal drug resistance. Examples of this include azole resistance among non-Candida albicans isolates, azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus, and echinocandin resistance in C. glabrata.

Some fungal species demonstrate resistance to all clinically available antifungals.³ Patients who have infections caused by such species have very few remaining treatment options.

The treatment of non-invasive fungal infections is limited by poor penetration of topical antifungals. This limitation is particularly

admin2020-03-18T11:56:50+00:00August 15th, 2019|Blog Articles|

Fungal Disease – A Global Opportunity for Improved Health in Developing Countries
Fungal Disease – A Global Opportunity for Improved Health in Developing Countries

Fungal Disease – A Global Opportunity for Improved Health in Developing Countries

As the World Health Organization focuses on what universal health coverage means in 2019, we explore the global challenges and opportunities in the control of fungal infection.

Although we often think of fungal infection in a cosmetic context, only affecting aging populations and often in relation to fungal nail infection, fungal disease is a serious global public health concern.

Far from being merely cosmetic issue, fungal infection can be extremely serious and, particularly for those with compromised immune systems, life threatening. People living with HIV; cancer patients; people who are admitted to hospital; people who are critically ill after trauma or surgery; and premature babies are among those most at risk.
Fungal infections can affect anyone around the world but pose a serious threat to people with weakened immune systems, such as those who have cancer or HIV/AIDS, or who have suffered from poor diet, malnutrition or repeated illness. It is these at-risk people who often reside in economically-challenged settings, where diagnosis and treatment can be tough and fraught with complications is a global issue. Over 300 million people of all ages are estimated to suffer from a serious fungal infection. Every year over 1.66 million of these people are estimated to die.¹ When compared to deaths from headline grabbing diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, that are fatal to 0.6 million and 1.5 million respectively, it’s hard to understand why there isn’t more of a discussion surrounding fungal infection and its disproportionate burden on developing nations.¹

But some fungal diseases can be extremely serious and, particularly for those with compromised immune systems, even life […]

admin2020-03-18T11:58:36+00:00May 10th, 2019|Blog Articles|