Fungi and Fungal Infections

Fungi also cause a number of plant and animal diseases. Because fungi are more chemically and genetically similar to animals than other organisms, fungal diseases are very difficult to treat. Plant diseases caused by fungi include rusts, smuts, and leaf, root, and stem rots, and may cause severe damage 

Systemic infections cansed by fungi are cryptococcus meningitis or endocardites, pulmonary and cerebral aspergilloses, blastomycoses, histoplamosis, coccidiomycosis, and paracoccidiomycosis. Superficial infections are classified into dermatomycosis (infections of the skin, hair, and nails) and candidiasis (infections with yeast that affects mncons membranes of the mouth, vagina, or skin). 

Among the drugs employed in the treatment of fungal infections are the anti-fungal antibiotics, such as anphotericin and nystatin, and synthetic anti-fnngal agents such as flucytosine, tolnaftate, and the azoles. 

Anphotericin binds cell membranes and interferes with permeability and transport functions. It binds more strongly to the membranes of fungi becanse they have more affinity for the fungal membrane ergosterol than for cholesterol, the main sterol in the plasma membrane of animal cells. Nystatin has a similar mechanism of action. 

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