Ever wonder why shower shoes are included in college dorm checklists? After all, at home, most people don’t wear shoes in the shower. The reason why shower shoes are a must when sharing a shower with strangers is they protect from fungal infections.
If you’re going to college or traveling or going somewhere where you will be sharing a shower, consider taking something to wear in the shower!
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Fungal infections come in all shapes and forms. You can get a skin infection, like athletes foot, from a shower floor, or valley fever from fungal spores in soil. How are fungal infections treated? Well, with antifungals! Of course, with so many different kinds of fungal infections, it is only natural that there would be many kinds of antifungals. The following are some of the most commonly used antifungal medicines and their uses.
Azole antifungals, according to an article in the Oxford Journals, are specific disruptors of ergosterol, a steroid that helps maintain the structure of membranes in fungi. When the membrane of fungal cells is unstable, the growth of the fungal infection is halted. Azoles are most commonly prescribed to patients with athlete’s foot, vaginal thrush infections, and nail fungal infections.
According to the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance, echinocandins are a special kind of antifungal that inhibit the molecule glucan, which is important in the membranes of fungi. Echinodins destabilize the fungus by inhibiting the enzyme the fungus uses to make its cell wall, gradually weakening the cell until it dies. This class of drug is usually used to treat systemic fungal infections found in immunocompromised patients.
Polyene antifungals normally change the density and fluidity of the fungal cell membranes. In most cases, fungal cells treated with polyene antifungals lose their ability to compartmentalize ions, which ultimately leak out and cause cell death. This antifungal can be used to treat systemic fungal infections, such as cryptococcal meningitis and Candida albicans infections.
As you can see, antifungals come in many forms and can help treat illnesses through various cellular mechanisms. Fungi are out there waiting to prey on unsuspecting humans, but thankfully, we have many great antifungal medications to treat them. Remember to wear your shower shoes, or you may end up needing one of these antifungals to treat your itchy, scaly feet!
