Invasive Candidiasis a Common Fungal Infection

Invasive Candidiasis a Common Fungal Infection
A common fungal infection in health care facilities, especially among recently admitted patients, is invasive candidiasis. Invasive candidiasis is brought about by the entrance of candida yeast into the bloodstream, often through medical devices, where it travels to the heart, bones, and eyes. Patients with a weakened immune system such as kidney failure have a higher chance of acquiring the fungal disease. Invasive candidiasis is treated with an intravenous or oral dose of fluconazole administered at an average loading dose of 12 mg/kg, followed by an average daily dose of 6 mg/kg (Pappas et al., 2016). The drug works by inhibiting the ability of the fungi Candida and Cryptococcus to multiple, effectively ridding of the infection. Its side effects include headache, diarrhea, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and severe rash. Possible drug reactions that the clinician should monitor for include severe interactions of fluconazole with disopyramide, astemizole, flibanserin, lomitapide, pimozide, quinidine, pentamidine, and terenadine. Unfortunately, available literature for CAM treatment of invasive candidiasis is limited and therefore not much is known about fluconazole interactions with CAM.
One drug-drug interaction is that between fluconazole with terfenadine. Terfenadine is an antihistam...