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My Commentary > Air Borne Toxic Spores, created by Fungi, due to the

formation of Mold, caused by Water Damaged Buildings...and just like

strains of bacteria, which have become stronger and more resistant to

anti-biotics, (notice that...it's not because of comprimized immune

systems) ...the many strains of Fungi may be lifting weights behind

our backs. How would we know??? Have any recent " Unbiased Studies "

been done across the board lately??? The " Industries " in the Good Ole

U.S.of A. " Have Comprimized OUR Immune Systems " by repeatedly

ignoring an illness that would infringe on their (bloody money) OR

better known as KICK-BACKS!!!!

Below are excerpts.

The full article can be found at:

http://tinyurl.com/57hr2a

Invasive fungal infections

*The number of life-threatening, invasive fungal infections has risen

dramatically over the last 20 years. Data collected over the 12 years

up to 1992 show that the frequency of invasive fungal infections as

judged after death by unselected autopsies had risen approximately 14

fold.

*When the diagnosis is made late, treatment is not as effective and

the mortality is high.

*Asthma and sinusitis are two of the commonest reasons for US

patients to visit a doctor.

Antifungals: Where are we headed?

*The antifungals market: current situation

There are only 4 classes of established antifungal drugs on the

market - polyenes (e.g. amphotericin , azoles (e.g. fluconazole and

itraconazole), allylamines (e.g. terbinafine) and the newly

introduced echinocandins (e.g. caspofungin). Of these classes, only

three are used to treat systemic fungal infections.

Today's market for systemic antifungal drugs that can used to treat

invasive fungal infections is estimated to be about $5 billion

worldwide. It is dominated by the azoles, the most successful of

which is Pfizer's Diflucan (fluconazole), which was first launched in

the mid-1980s and now enjoys sales of over $1billion per year.

Fluconazole succeeded in displacing amphotericin for the treatment of

invasive Candida infections; J & J's Sporanox (itraconazole) suffered

from lack of an iv formulation for years. The toxicity problems of

amphotericin have been ameliorated to some extent by the development

of liposome formulations, the most successful of which is Gilead's

Ambisome, though these formulations are very costly. At the same time

new azoles with improved spectrum and activity have appeared.

Pfizer's Vfend (voriconazole) is soon to be launched. Schering's

posaconazole will make further inroads into the amphotericin market.

A new class of antifungal drug, the echinocandins, has recently

appeared on the market. The first representative, Merck's Candidas

(caspofungin), was launched early in 2002 for salvage therapy for

invasive aspergillosis, for which it showed superiority over

amphotericin, but the drug's distinguishing feature is its fungicidal

activity against the more common Candida species. The second

echinocandin, Fujusawa's Funguard (micafungin) was launched in 2002

(Japan only) and closely resembles Merck's product.

Formulation remains a problem. The echinocandins and the various

amphotericin formulations are all administered by intravenous

infusion and there seems little prospect of developing oral

formulations. Only the azoles and terbinafine have oral forms. The

current iv formulation of the azoles useful for aspergillosis cannot

be given to patients with poor renal function, limiting their use.

Both routes of administration are important for the ideal treatment

of invasive fungal infections, particularly for aspergillosis. The iv

route is used for the acute phase (14 to 28 days) and is followed by

prolonged oral therapy (months or years) to suppress disease. Long-

term oral prophylaxis with an azole in at-risk patients is

commonplace.

Drug interaction issues are a major impediment to the use of the

azoles voriconazole, itraconazole and posaconazole. The interactions

with cancer chemotherapy agents and immunosuppressants are

particularly difficult to handle clinically.

The problem of drug resistance is less serious than that seen with

antibacterials. Resistance does occur but because it is not

transferable it is more manageable. On the other hand each year new

pathogenic, mainly filamentous, fungi are identified, highlighting

the need for broad spectrum coverage.

Despite the commercial success of the azoles and the introduction of

the echinocandins mortality of invasive fungal infections remains

high, particularly in those caused by filamentous fungi.