Systemic Fungal Infection

Systemic Fungal Infection General Information

A Systemic Fungal Infection is commonly caused by a species of the genus Candida, especially Candida albicans. These fungi are a form of ubiquitous fungi and are considered the most common fungal pathogens that affect a human. These species are a form of opportunistic pathogens that evolve exploiting and reaching the blood circulation and other deep tissues. The signs and symptoms caused by the Systemic Fungal Infection differ depending on the tissues that were damaged. If the condition is not treated properly it can cause a wide variety of diseases such as superficial mucocutaneous diseases, and invasive diseases such as hepatosplenic candidiasis, candida peritonitis, and systemic candidiasis.

This condition is very challenging to diagnose and due to this fact, it is also very hard to treat it and to prevent any life threatening complications. To reduce the mortality rate many doctors apply certain therapies, chemotherapies, cancer therapies and organ transplantation. There are many factors that can lead to the appearance of Systemic Fungal Infection. Some specific virulence factors that include surface molecules that permit the adherence of the organism to the other tissues, acid proteases and phospholipases that penetrate and damage the cell’s envelope, and the organism’s ability to convert to a hyphal form. In some cases, this medical condition can be caused by certain diseases, and can develop especially in patients who present a weak immune system. If the disease is not treated properly, the patient can experience severe complications that represent a real threat to his life.

Systemic Fungal Infection Symptoms

The signs and symptoms caused by Systemic Fungal Infection usually differ depending on the type of tissue the disease damaged, and also on the patient’s resistance to the specific organism. Most people accuse the same manifestations, although some have complained of particular symptoms. When the patient is suffering from a cutaneous form of the condition he may experience diffuse eruptions over the trunk, thorax and extremities, intertrigo (a condition that causes pruritic red rash), metastatic skin lesions, which can be described as erythematous, firm, nontender macronodular lesions; and paronychia or onychomycosis, which are frequently associated with immersion of the patient’s hands in wet environments and with diabetes mellitus.

The patient can also experience an inflammation that becomes warm, glistening, and tense, which if is not treated properly, it can spread under the nails. There are cases in which Systemic Fungal Infection can affect the patient’s gastrointestinal tract, and the most common signs and symptoms in these cases include sore and painful mouth, burning mouth or tongue, dysphagia and whitish thick patches on the oral tissues. When the disease affects the patient’s esophagus, he may experience none to few signs and symptoms that can include dysphagia, odynophagia, retrosternal pain, epigastric pain, nausea and vomiting. There are cases in which the Systemic Fungal Infection can affect the patient nasoesophageal gastrointestinal system causing the following signs and symptoms: epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, chills and abdominal mass. There are also cases in which the condition can develop in the patient’s genitourinary system, but usually, it appears asymptomatic.

Systemic Fungal Infection Treatment

It is very important to treat and diagnose the Systemic Fungal Infection in an early stage to prevent any complications and to increase the healing process. Usually, the diagnosing procedures differ depending on the type of the tissue that the disease affected. When the disease affects the cutaneous system, the most common diagnosing procedures can include scrapings and smears from the skin, nails, and oral or vaginal mucosa, which are sent to a laboratory for microscopic examination for any hyphae, pseudohyphae or budding yeast cells; use of potassium hydroxide smear, gram stain, or methylene blue to examine the fungal cells; and cultures from the affected tissue to identity the etiologic agent responsible for the disease’s development.

When the genitourinary system is affected, doctors can perform a urinalysis or fungal cultures. If the Systemic Fungal Infection affects the patient’s respiratory tract, doctors can perform certain diagnosing procedures such as sputum gram stain, sputum cultures, and lung biopsy, which is a critical procedure in diagnosing this kind of condition due to the high frequency of yeast cell colonization. In treating Systemic Fungal Infection, the treatment varies depending on the location of the infection, the patient’s disease and his immune status, the patient’s risk factors for certain diseases, the specific organism that caused the disease to develop and how the patient’s organism responds to the available medication. The most common medicine used to treat Systemic Fungal Infection is Fluconazole, a powerful antifungal agent. There are also other medicines that can be used to control and treat successfully the condition and can be prescribed as Echinocandins, Caspofugin, Micafugin and Anidulafugin.

There are cases in which the doctors can also administrate medicines such as Coriconazole and Posaconazole to treat the underlying condition the patient is suffering from. If the patient presents a weak immune system, the first treatment option is to apply an antifungal therapy consisting in a medicine called Sporanox. The medicine is taken in doses, one each day, for three to six months, until the condition improves and even disappears. There are cases in which the patient presents a hematogenous dissemination of the kidney or a certain type of ascending infection called pyelonephritis, and the first treatment option is a daily systemic antifungal therapy. In most cases, the medicines used in these therapies are administrated in doses of 400mg/d intravenously or orally, for at least two weeks.

There are also several alternative options that can be applied depending on the patient’s previous exposure to antifungals, on the patient’s resistance to the available medication and on the general health status of the patient. In more severe cases of Systemic Fungal Infection, the recommended treatment option is surgery. This kind of procedure is usually applied to remove the affected organ or tissues and the surrounding healthy tissue. In combination with the medical treatment, the doctor can perform a vitrectomy as a therapeutic option in antifungal endophthalmitis. It is very important to treat this medical condition in an early stage to avoid any more severe complications.