An Austrian research team had previously found that SSRIs, a family of drugs that includes the popular Prozac, could destroy several species of Candida fungus. In their latest findings, Dr. Cornelia Lass-Floerl of the University of Innsbruck and her colleagues report that SSRIs can kill several other types of fungus as well.

The discovery of a potential new antifungal drug is important, as fungal infections have become a serious cause of death and disease in recent decades. The infections can be particularly devastating for people with compromised immune systems, premature infants and people having surgery.

At present, there are only a limited number of antifungal drugs available to fight infections and these drugs are becoming less useful as resistance to them develops. Furthermore, antifungal drugs have significant side effects.

The researchers tested fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), reboxetine and seroxate against samples of several different types of fungus in the laboratory. The 31 different fungal samples, which were taken from patients, included fungi from the Candida and Aspergillus families.

All of the drugs showed antifungal activity against the species tested, and their activity increased with dosage and the amount of time the fungi samples were exposed to the drugs. Prozac and Zoloft had the most potent antifungal activity.

The drugs' inhibition of fungal growth was reversible, but fungi exposed to the drug for a prolonged amount of time were permanently destroyed, according to the report in a recent issue of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Several questions must be answered to determine if SSRIs could indeed be used for treating fungal infection, the authors note. But, they add, their findings ``probably provide a rationale'' for using preparations containing SSRIs for local treatment of fungal infection.

``Animal models and clinical trials are highly warranted to evaluate the potential role of SSRIs in the management of fungal infections,'' Lass-Floerl and colleagues conclude. Understanding exactly how the SSRIs exert their antifungal effect could also be helpful in the development of new antifungal agents, they add.

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