COMBINATION DRUG TREATMENT IN Tinea INFECTIONS OF CUTANEOUS SOFT TISSUES

Systemic antifungals are the most effective treatment and three major groups of antifungal agents in clinical use are azoles, polyenes and allylamine/thiocarbamates. Unlike the azoles, which are primarily fungistatic, terbinafine has a fungicidal mode of action through its ability to inhibit the enzyme squalene epoxidase, leading to a fungicidal accumulation of squalene within the fungal cell. The oral therapy is usually reserved for more severe infections and will lead to better mycological clearance. Therefore, the present study included the topical (1% terbinafine cream) and oral terbinafine drug (250 mg for 4-6 weeks) treatment with combination of itraconazole (100 mg/day for 4-6 weeks) was advised in Tinea infections. Of these, 40% (n=84) were male, while 60% (n=126) were female with mean age group was 35 years. The erythema (28.57%) and pruritis (21.42%) were the most common diagnosed symptoms. The 57.14% patients investigated with the moderate severity of Tinea infection, whereas 15.71% patients showed severe infections, in which older aged female patients reported more severe infections. In the present study about 70% patients reported 100% cure only with terbinafine, whereas 30% patients had slight improvements and further combination with itraconazole resulted in 100% cure rate. Henceforth further study is underway for molecular identification of different dermatophytes along with antimicrobial susceptibility testing so that better treatment with short interval of time should be recommended to the patients.