All About Fungal Infections

Various bugs including fungi and bacteria live quite harmlessly on your skin, on your nails, or in your mouth or in your vagina. However certain types of fungus can cause actual infections and make your skin itchy or sore. What effect the fungus has rather depends on the type of fungus and the bit of your body that is affected. Fungal infections particularly like to live in warm moist places around your body like between your toes, between your fingers, and in your groin. Fungal infections like the skin because they feed off of ‘keratin’ which is a protein which is in skin, hair and nails.

Common Fungal Infections

‘Athlete’s foot’ where you get itchy scaly, soggy, smelly cracks between your toes, often picked up in swimming pools and showers, and almost everyone gets this at one time or another in their lives. It helps if you don’t wear the same sneakers for several days at a time without washing your feet, and when you do wash your feet make sure that you dry between your toes. Treat it with anti fungal cream which you can get at your chemist.

Nail Fungal Infections – tends to be uncommon in children, but if it does attack your nails it makes them thick and crumbly. Treatment is by going to see your doctor and getting tabs.

‘Jock itch’ is when you get an itchy red rash in the groin particularly if you sweat a lot or do a lot of sport. Treatment is with antifungal cream from the chemist or from your doctor.

Ring worm – which can affect your skin or scalp, and you get round red, scaly, itchy patches which can start small and get bigger. Treatment is with antifungal creams from your chemist or doctor, but best to see your doctor first to check out that you have the right thing.

Thrush – is caused by the ‘candida’ fungus which most people have on their bodies all the time, but in certain situations (like when you take antibiotics) it can multiply and cause problems. You can get thrush in your mouth which makes it red and sore, vagina (itchy and discharge) , or penis (itchy and red). If you have problems there you should get checked out. But remember it is very easy to treat so get down there.