Therapy of systemic fungal infections.

The incidence of both community-acquired and nosocomial fungal infections has significantly increased over the past several decades. The major factors for this increase are a heightened use of antibiotics, a growing population of the elderly and of immunocompromised patients as a result of HIV, cancer, and organ transplantation. In this article, we will review the indications, efficacy, and safety of the polyenes, imidazoles, triazoles, and other systemic antifungals in development that are used for systemic fungal infections.