Q. How dangerous is a fungal infection?
Doctor Answer is medically reviewed by SecondMedic medical review team.
Fungal infections can range from mild to life-threatening, and the risk of a serious outcome depends on the type of infection, your overall health, age, and other factors.
The most common types of fungal infections are skin or nail infections. These usually cause redness, irritation, itching, burning sensation or scaling of the affected area. While uncomfortable and unpleasant at times they are rarely life threatening as long as they are identified early and treated correctly with antifungal medications prescribed by your doctor - such as topical creams or tablets.
However some fungi can spread beyond just the skin into organs like lungs, brain or eyes creating potentially serious conditions called systemic fungal infections that can prove fatal if left unchecked for too long - especially in immunocompromised individuals (such as young children or those undergoing chemotherapy). These require much more aggressive treatments such as injections over several weeks depending on the severity of infection. Symptoms might start out mild but worsen progressively with time and can include vomiting & diarrhoea in addition to coughing & chest pain associated with lung involvement .
Allergic reactions to certain types of fungi may also occur making it important to identify patients who may be at increased risk so appropriate preventive measures could be taken if necessary; these reactions typically present themselves shortly after exposure while symptoms related to systemic fungal infections usually take longer to show up.
People should take extra precaution when travelling internationally since many tropical countries tend have higher incidences of certain contagious fungal diseases – protective clothing is advised anywhere you go particularly around areas known for hosting infected animals like bats & wild rodents whose bites could potentially transmit dangerous pathogens into human blood stream leading to severe complications down line requiring emergency medical treatments sometime even amputation depending on location & severity..Bottom line is early detection remains key for preventing more severe outcomes - having regularly scheduled checkups with your GP along with following hygiene rule will definitely reduce chances succumbing any kind such unwelcome visitors!