Antifungal pills could help treat asthma-study

Pills used to treat common skin infections caused by fungi also appear to help some people with severe asthma. Volunteers with an allergic reaction to one or more fungi showed significant improvements in their asthma after taking antifungal itraconazole pills. Airborne fungi can worsen asthma but the study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine is the first to show that antifungal therapy can actually improve severe asthma symptoms, the researchers said. Nearly 60 percent of the volunteers showed significant improvement in their asthma symptoms during the eight months they took the antifungal drug. Their asthma -- marked by runny noses, sneezing and hay fever-like symptoms -- worsened within four months after people stopped taking the pills, the researchers added. All those in the study had tested positive for a fungal allergy. "This pioneering study indicates that fungal allergy is important in some patients with severe asthma, and that oral antifungal therapy is worth trying in some difficult-to-treat patients," Robert Niven of the University of Manchester, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

Bonnie - what this says to us is that yeast overgrowth (yeast is fungus), is a legitimate, major issue. If curtailed, it can help reduce many adverse symptoms.