What Are Fungal Diseases?
Illness from fungi-related germs are called fungal diseases. Some fungal diseases, such as athlete’s foot, ringworm, and candidiasis (yeast infection), are fairly common and easy to treat. Other fungal diseases, such as fungal meningitis and bloodstream infections, are more serious, and can even be life-threatening.
Some fungal diseases have noticeable symptoms, while others affect internal parts of the body, and may be more difficult to identify and diagnose. The different types of fungal diseases can be defined as:
- Superficial—tend to affect the hair shaft or a dead layer of skin
- Cutaneous—tend to affect outer skin layers, hair, or nails
- Subcutaneous—tend to affect inner skin or tissue layers
- Systemic and opportunistic—tend to affect internal organs1