As it is said by Drs. Malcolm D. Richardson and David W. Warnock in their book “Fungal Infection – Diagnosis and Management”, fungi form a separate group of higher organisms and have certain key features, which make them different from both plants and animals. From the structural point of view, fungus is usually a one cell entity or a chain of tubular, filament-like cells. The key feature of fungi cells is that unlike cells of plants or animals, fungi have rigid cell walls, made of chitin and glucan. On the other hand, fungi are simpler in structure than plants or animals – fungi cells do not have a division into organs or tissues.

 

Furthermore, fungi cannot produce food for themselves like plants do, using sunlight and chlorophyll; fungi get nourishment from outside – these tiny creatures secrete special substances, which prepare “food” from outside and then reabsorb the nutrients back into their cells. In common language, fungi are known under such names as moulds, yeasts and mushrooms.  

 

So, what is the danger, which may be introduced for the human health by those microscopic creatures, called fungi? Well, imagine an army numbered in 50 000 to 250 000 of tiny armoured creatures, motivated by only one goal – to find a living host, attach to it, and prepare dinner from the host’s tissues. A kind of scenario worth of Hitchcock thriller, isn’t it?

 

However, the situation is not so dreadful in the real life. The majority of fungi are not harmful for people, animals or plants. Often fungi coexist with other living beings on Earth, forming the so-called symbiotic relationships, which are mutually beneficial for fungi and hosts.

 

Quite often fungi are good for people. Along with a great number of edible mushrooms (which are, actually, nothing but fruits of fungi), that we use while preparing pizza, sandwiches or salads, fungi are used to make bread and even beer. Just imagine, without fungi people would not have beer!

 

Of all those thousands of fungi species only 500 have been associated with human diseases. Furthermore, not more than 100 representatives of fungi family are strong enough to cause health disorders in healthy human beings (all the rest can only cause health problems in immunocompromised people, for example those with HIV).

 

In the majority of cases, skin, which is the outer layer of human body, is attacked by fungi, which results in certain diseases development. Fungi mostly affect skin of the feet or hands, as well as human hair and nails.

 

When fungi penetrate deeper under the skin, they cause irritation, swelling or blistering of the skin. The most common skin conditions, associated with fungi, are athlete’s foot, jock itch and ringworm. Usually fungal skin infections are mild or moderate and can be easily treated by OTC medications; but sometimes fungi may cause more serious conditions, for the treatment of which many prescription creams, gels and pills are developed.

 

Nick