Abstract

FUNGAL INFECTIONS AND THEIR TREATMENT

Dr. Mohammad Faiz Ahmad*

ABSTRACT

Fungal infections are associated with increased rates of mortality and morbidity as equal as tuberculosis and malaria. Several drugs effective against fungal infections are available, but the structure and chemical makeup of fungi make them resistant to drug action. Existing fungal treatment options are limited as the conventional antifungal agents have various limitations including narrow spectrum activity, poor bioavailability, toxicity, multiple drug resistance and many more.[1] Therefore there is a potential need to overcome the shortcomings associated with the conventional fungal infection treatments. Researchers across the world are working on various novel strategies for the effective treatment of various fungal infections with pronounced clinical and commercial success. In this short review, we focus upon the various issues relating to fungal infections and their treatment. We initiate it with the current commonly used treatments and then move on to the future drugs in the pipeline as well as on the novel leads promising enough to be worked upon as future treatment options. All these drugs are functionally divided into various classes such as azoles, polyenes etc. We elaborate their mode of action and then underline the various resistance mechanisms evolved by the fungal pathogens to counter these drugs with special emphasis on biofilms. Then we acquaint the reader with a short description of susceptibility testing methodology including the advances of this field in the near future in treatment against other resistant pathogens.

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