Abstract
Invasive fungal infections can cause significant morbidity and mortality in humans and different animal species, worldwide. Antifungal therapy remains a central component of protecting human and vertebrate animals against fungal infections.
Depending on the strategy chosen, topical and/or systemic drugs can be used based on the clinical picture of the host and mycological identification ofS. Seyedmousavi (*)
Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology (LCIM), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA e-mail: Seyedmousavi@nih.gov; S.Seyedmousavi@gmail.com
N. P. Wiederhold
Fungus Testing Laboratory, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
e-mail: wiederholdn@uthscsa.edu
F. Ebel
Institute for Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Munich, Germany e-mail: Frank.Ebel@lmu.de
M. T. Hedayati
Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology, Invasive Fungi Research Center, School of
Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
e-mail: hedayatimt@gmail.com
H. Rafati
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Center of Expertise in Microbiology, Infection Biology and Antimicrobial Pharmacology, Tehran, Iran
e-mail: halehrafati@gmail.com
P. E. Verweij
Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Center of Expertise in Mycology RadboudUMC/CWZ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands e-mail: Paul.Verweij@radboudumc.nl
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 359
S. Seyedmousavi et al. (eds.), Emerging and Epizootic Fungal Infections in Animals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72093-7_16
the etiologic agent. For effective treatment, it is important to correctly identify the causative agents at the species level, which will enable administration of suitable therapeutics and initiation of appropriate therapeutic modalities. In addition, the management of fungal infections in animals usually includes systemic or topical treatment of the animal and environmental decontamination if necessary. Only a few products are licensed for animals, and, as a consequence, off-label use of the drugs approved for use in humans is quite common.
This chapter focuses on the topical and systemic antifungal agents currently in use in veterinary practice. The therapeutic uses that have proved successfully in various animal species are summarized. This chapter also summarizes the currently available evidence for the emergence of resistance against these agents.
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