Mycotic infections

A fungus is a colorless plant that lacks chlorophyll. Fungi that cause disease in humans may be yeastlike or moldlike the resulting infections are called mycotic infections or fungal infections. 

The superficial mycotic infections occur on the surface of, or just below, the skin or nails. Superficial infections include tinea pedis (athlete s foot), tinea cruris (jock itch), tinea corporis (ringworm), onychomycosis (nail fungus), and yeast infections, such as those caused by Candida albicans. Yeast infections or those caused by C. albicans affect women in the vulvovaginal area and can be difficult to control. Women who are at increased risk for vulvovaginal yeast infections are those who have diabetes, are pregnant, or are taking oral contraceptives, antibiotics, or corticosteroids. 

Deep mycotic infections develop inside the body, such as in the lungs. Treatment for deep mycotic infections... 

A nurse is preparing to administer amphotericin B to a patient with a systemic mycotic infection. This is the first time the nurse has administered amphotericin B. Determine what information the nurse should be aware of concerning the administration of this drug. Explain your answer. 

Amphotericin B (Fungizone)—used for treatment of mycotic infections (fungal)... 

If the patient has had a mycotic infection previously, determine what treatments were helpful to the patient in the past. 

Provide the patient education pertaining to mycotic infections and antifungal therapy. 

Causes of mycotic infections of the skin, hair, or nails... 

Mycotic infections caused by dematiaceous fungi include chromoblastomycosis, mycetoma, phaeohyphomycosis, and sporotrichosis. In this chapter, only chromoblastomycosis, phaeohyphomycosis, and sporotrichosis will be considered. Sporotrichosis is treated here because the etiologic agent is dematiaceous in culture, even though the yeast form in tissue is hyaline. 

Suggested Alternatives for Differential Diagnosis Psittacosis, Q fever, plague, diphtheria, tick-borne diseases, mycotic infections. 

Cryptococcosis is a noncontagious, systemic mycotic infection caused by the ubiquitous encapsulated soil yeast Cryptococcus neoformans. 

Suspected systemic mycotic infection leading to sepsis in neutropenic and critically ill patients should be empirically treated with parenteral amphotericin B or caspofungin, especially if the patient is clinically unstable. 

Uses. As broad-spectrum antimicrobial cold sterilant/disinfectant for hospital equipment as tanning agent for leather as tissue fixative as cross-linking agent for proteins as preservative in cosmetics as therapeutic agent for warts, hyperhidrosis, and dermal mycotic infections in X ray processing solutions and film emulsion as a disinfectant in the beauty industry... 

Pharmacotherapy of fungal disease has been revolutionized by the introduction of the relatively nontoxic oral azole drugs and the echinocandins. Combination therapy is being reconsidered, and new formulations of old agents are becoming available. Unfortunately, the appearance of azole-resistant organisms, as well as the rise in the number of patients at risk for mycotic infections, has created new challenges... 

Owing to its broad spectrum of activity and fungicidal action, amphotericin B remains the drug of choice for nearly all life-threatening mycotic infections. It is often used as the initial induction... 

Correct answer = D. Griseofulvin use is restricted to the treatment of superficial mycotic infections. 

E. Its use in therapy for superficial mycotic infections is usually short term (several days). 

Drake LA, Dinehart SM, Farmer ER, Goltz RW, Graham GF, Hordinsky MK, Lewis CW, Pariser DM, Skouge JW, Webster SB, Whitaker DC, Butler B, Lowery BJ Guidelines of care for superficial mycotic infections of the skin Tinea corporis, tinea cruris, tinea faciei, tinea manuum, and tinea pedis. J Am Acad Dermatol 1996 34 282-286. 

Concomitant hepatic lesions can occur as a consequence of a number of viral, bacterial, parasitic and mycotic infections as well as due to toxic effects. Owing to their ambiguity, however, these lesions do not allow closer aetiological specification. Therefore, the term non-specific reactive hepatitis is not actually considered to be a pathological entity in its own right. 

---