Antifungal drug

An antifungal drug is medication used to treat fungal infections such as athlete's foot, ringworm and candidiasis (thrush), as well as serious systemic infections like cryptococcal meningitis.

Unlike bacteria, yeasts and fungi are eukaryotes, as are humans (and all other plants and animals). The basic structure of a fungal cell is nearly identical to a human's. This means finding a target for an antifungal to attack, that does not exist in the infected organism, is more difficult.

List of antifungal drugs

Antifungals work by exploiting differences between mammalian and fungal cells to kill off the fungal organism and without significantly harming the host. There are often side-effects to these drugs.

There are three main classes of commonly used antifungal drugs. The polyenes, the imidazoles and the triazoles. Some antifungals are not of these classes.

The polyenes interact with ergosterol in the fungal cell wall, causing the cell's contents to leak out and the cell to die. Human (and other animal) cells contain cholesterol instead so are not destroyed.

• Nystatin
• Amphotericin B

The imidazoles block the synthesis of ergosterol in fungal cells. They will also block steroid synthesis in humans.

• Ketoconazole
• Clotrimazole

The triazoles are a newer class of drug that also act by blocking ergosterol synthesis.

• Fluconazole
• Itraconazole

Others:

• Terbinafine
• Flucytosine
• Griseofulvin