Treatments
What are the treatments for fungal infections?
There are a number of topical treatments available for topical fungal infections but as the Summary Draft Report of the Antifungal Working Group of the National Institute of Health in the USA stated at their Summit on Development of Infectious Disease Therapeutics, September 26-27, 2000 at Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
"There is a critical medical need for the development of antifungal agents. Since there are no fungal vaccines currently licensed the only clinical recourse is the use of therapeutics. Current antifungal treatments are hampered by not being rapidly fungicidal, having limited spectrum, toxicity concerns, and emerging resistance. Further, they also state that, "There is not a single rapidly fungicidal, non-toxic drug available."
The full report can be read on:
www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/drug/antifungalreport.htm
Over the years there have been many treatments including Potassium permanganate, Tee Tree Oil, Coconut Oil and various antifungal products containing one of the following classes of chemical active:
- Benzoic acid (Whitfield's ointment)
- Undecylenic alkanolamide
- Benzalkonium Chloride
- Ciclopirox olamine
- Polyenes
- Nystatin (Nilstat® cream, ointment;
- Imidazoles
- Clotrimazole and Bifonazole (Canesten® cream, solution; Mycospore™ cream
- Econazole (Pevaryl® cream; Dermazole® cream)
- Ketoconazole (Nizoral® cream)
- Miconazole (Daktarin® cream, lotion, spray; Resolve® solution, tinea cream, jock itch cream, thrush cream, powder; Monistat Derm® Cream)
- Tioconazole
- Sulconazole
- Allylamine
- Terbinafine (Lamisil® cream, gel, spray)
- Thiocarbamide’s
- Tolciclate
- Tolnaftate (Tinaderm® lotion; Mycil® cream)
The majority of the present treatments are what are called fungistatic inhibitors. In short their mode of action is to interfere with one of several biological functions within the cell of fungi. They do not kill the fungi and so when application ceases the fungi can re-germinate and cause a repeat infection.
