Treatment of systemic fungal infections: recent progress and current problems

Systemic mycoses continue to emerge as life-threatening infections. Considerable progress in treating these infections is being achieved through better application of established available antifungal agents (amphotericin B, flucytosine, miconazole and ketoconazole), and through development of promising investigational agents (fluconazole, itraconazole). Systemic fungal infections, however, continue to present major problems, including clinical resistance, microbiological resistance, emergence of new pathogens, and involvement of more immunocompromised patients. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to review the recent progress and current problems in treatment of systemic fungal infections.