Beware of fungal infections in summer

CIU Faculty of Medicine Instructor Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Seyer stated that fungal disease is one of the most common skin diseases especially in the summer heat, and warned about swimming pools that are widely used in summer.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Seyer emphasized the fact that great attention should be paid to the pools as they are heavily occupied in summer months, and are not being adequately sanitized.   She reminded that fungal group microorganisms are infections that negatively affect human health, just like bacteria, viruses and parasites.  She also noted that while some fungi cause superficial fungal infections in the outermost layers of the skin and hair, some of them settle in the deep layers of the skin and thus cause infections.

Individuals with a low immune system should be especially careful, Seyer said, because individuals with a weak immune system may encounter serious fungal infections. Seyer noted that fungal infections, which are related to the upper layers of the body, usually occur in body parts such as skin, nails, scalp, external genitalia, and usually they are contacted from a sick person or the environment.

Pointing out that this group of fungal infections is observed more frequently than other fungal infections, Seyer pointed out that body parts that come into contact with the environment are exposed to fungal spores with this contact, and fungal infections occur if the individual's immune system fails to fight effectively.

“Some fungal species are found in limited amounts on human skin or in the genital area,” Seyer said, and “Since these limited number of fungal cells are normally in balance with other microorganisms in the area in question, no sickness symptoms are observed. However, as the number of microbes in the environment is disturbed as a result of long-term antibiotics treatment, and as fungi do not respond to antibiotic treatment, the number of bacteria decreases with antibiotic usage while  fungi find a spacious environment to multiply.”

Seyer stated that this is the reason why antifungal group drugs are used in the treatment of fungi and said, “An appropriate sample should be taken from the body where fungal infection is suspected; microbiological analysis of this sample should be made. Then it should be determined which antifungal group drug the detected fungus is sensitive to, and the treatment should be carried out by specialist physicians.”