The symptoms of fungal skin infections are easy to identify; at least visually by your doctor. Your skin appears to be red, scaly and dry. It may be coupled with chronic itchiness and can either be located in a specific part of the body or in several areas.

When you are sick and are on antibiotics or steroids, you can easily acquire fungal skin infections. The cause of the problem is the medications that you are on. Antibiotics are medications that you take to kill harmful bacteria that are causing your infection or illness. However, these drugs can also reduce the helpful bacteria that live in the body. When the populations of your helpful bacteria are reduced, fungi may take the opportunity to colonize.

In most circumstances, fungal skin infections that are located at the surface of your skin are pretty mild and cannot spread to another person that easily. So when you notice a small cut or wound in your skin, make sure that you have your first aid kit with you to take care of it. If not, it can possibly lead to skin fungal infection.

For prevention, it is basically a matter of good grooming. Keep your skin dry and fresh all the time. Moisture can attract fungi and bacteria, which can worsen your skin infection. Hence avoid sweating with wearing loose and cotton-made clothes. Also, dry yourself completely after taking a bath. Avoid using other people’s personal things because skin fungal infections can still spread from one person to another.

Acute sinusitis normally lasts eight weeks or less or occurs no more than three times per year with an average episode lasting less than ten days. Chronic sinusitis on the other hand normally lasts longer than eight weeks or occurs more than four times per year with symptoms usually lasting longer than twenty days.

There are many symptoms of acute sinus infection including nasal discharge, post nasal drip whereby mucus drips down the throat behind the nose, facial pain or pressure in the area of the affected sinus cavities, fever and headaches.

Symptoms of chronic sinus infection include chronic soar throat, chronic nasal discharge, bad breath, prolonged facial pain, discomfort below the eyes or across the bridge of the nose, toothaches and low-grade headaches.

It is often difficult to determine whether or not you have a common cold or a sinus infection. For example, a stuffy nose could be a symptom of a sinus infection or a common cold.

A fungal nail infection is an infection of the nail by a fungus. It is also known as Onychomycosis, its medical term. The fungus spreads once it is able to penetrate the barrier that provides the nail. This is a powerful barrier, but once it has been breached, it makes difficult to wipe out the fungus.

Fungal nail infections appear most of the time in adult people, and are not commonly contagious. You run the risk of getting infected not because someone with fungus has taken a bath in a shower, for example, but because showers often provide the perfect environment for nail fungus to appear. Nail fungus infections appear quite often in people with a weak immune system, that end up helping the fungus to spread. This can be avoided by taking proper measures like keeping your feet dry, avoiding close shoes, or wearing sandals in showers.

You will notice, if you have nail fungus, that your nail does not look healthy anymore. The color turns yellow, the edges are crumbling and the texture is not the same. Any of these symptoms reveal there is fungus in your nail bed. The recommendable thing to do is to visit a doctor. A doctor will be able to give you a treatment, and inform you about the type of fungus you have.

Nail fungus infections treatments are long. It is not unusual to have to wait over 12 months for a fully recovered nail. Even if you think your nail looks normal, you run the risk of a fungus reappearance, which means starting the treatment all over again. However, if you don’t have a nail fungus infection, you still have time to start taking care of what you do in order to avoid the infection.

Ringworm, or tinea, is an example of an infection of the skin. Diseases that are fungal and attack the skin are known as superficial infections. Diseases that fall into this range are located on the skin, hair and nails. Athlete’s Foot is one of the most common superficial fungal infections. Thanks to the rise in youth sports programs, the incidences of superficial fungal infections have seen an increase.

Another form of fungal infection occurs in the dermis, or subcutaneous tissue directly underneath the skin. These types of infection are rare, and are mostly found in the Americas, South Africa and Australia. The disease is known to invade through insect bites or scratches from fish spine.

Systemic fungal diseases are much more serious, and can be potentially life threatening. Their entry into the body occurs through the lungs, intestines, or through intravenous lines. The fungal diseases that enter through the lungs are most often airborne spores, and containment is often impossible. These diseases belong to the pathogenic fungi, and can result in death.

There are over 100 species of fungi that are dangerous to man, and can infect the human host. Not all of them are life-threatening, and many that pose a problem in the sick, are not at all successful with healthy individuals. Nail fungus, athlete’s foot, and yeast infections, while not life-threatening are annoying conditions that need treatment. With a yeast infection, there is the possibility of further mutation of the yeast, into a fungal state, and the resulting condition is very serious. The fungus at that point begins to invade the entire body.

Here are some common types of fungal infections which we normally suffer from:

Tinea (say: tih-nee-uh) is a type of fungal infection of the hair, skin, or nails.

Athlete’s foot is another type of fungal infection generally appearing between the toes but can also affect toenails and the bottom or sides of the feet.

Jock itch is a fungal infection of the groin and upper thighs.

Candida (say: kan-duh-duh) is a yeast similar to a fungus. It frequently affects the skin around the nails or the soft, moist areas around body openings.

These are just the common types of fungal infections which we usually suffer from. There are other fungal infections which are very rare but are very hazardous to health. You can find more information about fungal infection, its causes, symptoms, treatment, prevention etc. in our next sections.

Recommended pages: Wound Infection | Infection Cycle