Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
Vol. 5, Issue 6 (2016)
Fungal pathogenicity and diseases in human – A review
Abstract:
The incidence of fungal infections is increasing at an alarming rate, presenting an enormous challenge to healthcare professionals. This increase is directly related to the growing population of immunocompromised individuals especially children resulting from changes in medical practice such as the use of intensive chemotherapy and immunosuppressive drugs. Fungi can occur in the form of yeast, mould, and dimorph. In children fungi can cause superficial infection, i.e., on skin, nails, and hair like oral thrush, candida diaper rash, tinea infections, etc., are various types of superficial fungal infections, subcutaneous fungal infection in tissues under the skin and lastly it causes systemic infection in deeper tissues. Most superficial and subcutaneous fungal infections are easily diagnosed and readily amenable to treatment. Opportunistic fungal infections are those that cause diseases exclusively in immunocompromised individuals, e.g., aspergillosis, zygomycosis, etc. Systemic infections can be life-threatening and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Because diagnosis is difficult and the causative agent is often confirmed only at autopsy, the exact incidence of systemic infections is difficult to determine. The most frequently encountered pathogens are
Candida albicans and
Aspergillus spp. But other fungi such as non-albicans
Candida spp. are increasingly important.
Pages: 192-193 | 2423 Views 929 Downloads
Shagun Tyagi. Fungal pathogenicity and diseases in human – A review. J Pharmacogn Phytochem 2016;5(6):192-193.