Method for treating athlete's foot

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention is directed to a method of treating a fungal infection, such as athlete's foot, by orally or topically administrating an antiviral agent, such as valacyclovir hydrochloride, acyclovir and famcyclovir to patients suffering from such fungal infection.

#2. Description of the Related Art

#As used herein, the term antiviral agent includes acyclovir (U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,574), valacyclovir (U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,924) and valacyclovir hydrochloride, famciclovir (U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,937) and the like. The properties of these antiviral agents are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,199,574, 4,957,924, and 5,246,937, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. All these antiviral agents are commercially available or can be readily obtained.

#As used herein, the term “effective fungus infection treatment amount” means an amount that is capable of reducing, eliminating or otherwise improving the symptoms of the fungus infections, such as athlete's foot, or any amount that is apparent to or can be prescribed by a person of ordinary skill in the art without undue experimentation.

#Fungal infections, including tineapedis (fungal infections on the feet), tineamanus (fungal infections on the hands) and tineacorporis (fungal infections on the body), are diagnosed by methods or tests commonly conducted by a person of ordinary skill in the art. The common symptoms of such disease are described above. In the case of fungal infection on nails such as finger nails and toenails, the infected areas usually show thickening of the nails with white spots, while if the skin is infected, itching scaling, redness and/or blisters will appear. A laboratory test may be conducted by culturing a skin sample or nail sample in the infected area in an appropriate medium to observe the growth of fungi. The infections may also be identified by scraping the infected skin or nail and examining the such specimen under a microscope in the presence of potassium hydroxide, which assists to determine the presence of fungi.