Mechanism of Action
Antifungals work by exploiting differences between mammalian and fungal cells to kill the fungal organism without dangerous effects on the host. Unlike bacteria, both fungi and humans are eukaryotes. Thus, fungal and human cells are similar at the molecular level. This makes it more difficult to find or design drugs that target fungi without affecting human cells. As a consequence, many antifungal drugs cause side effects. Some of these side effects can be life-threatening if the drugs are not used properly.
Read more about this topic: Antifungal Medication
Famous quotes containing the words mechanism of, mechanism and/or action:
“The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extrahuman architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape.”
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“A mechanism of some kind stands between us and almost every act of our lives.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 3, ch. 2 (1962)
“Let those who go home tell the same story of you:
Of action with a common purpose, action
None the less fruitful if neither you nor we
Know, until the moment after death
What is the fruit of action.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)