Current Antifungal Drug Prescribing to Treat Oral Thrush in Sulaimani City-Iraq

Oral thrush or oral candidosis is one of the most widespread fungal infections of the mucous membranes in human. This study aims to evaluate the pattern of prescribing of three antifungal drugs: nystatin, amphotericin B, fluconazole, and miconazole by the pharmacists and assistant pharmacists, which are used to treat oral thrush. A questionnaire was circulated to a random selection of pharmacies in Sulaimani city of Iraq between March 2017 and June 2017 and responses to were received from 101 pharmacies. The results were analyzed and the responses demonstrated as absolute and relative frequencies using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Program (SPSS) version 21.  Among the participants (65.3%) were males and (34.7%) were females. The participant's age range was (20 – 70) years. The majority (52.3%) holds a postgraduate degree as their highest educational level and they graduated after 2010. Miconazole and nystatin were the most popular choices of an antifungal agent that pharmacists would use, followed by fluconazole and amphotericin-B. The possibility of using miconazole was positively linked to recently graduated participants.