Epidemiology of invasive fungal infections in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome at a reference hospital for infectious diseases in Brazil

Abstract

Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) represent one of the main causes of morbimortality in immunocompromised patients. Pneumocystosis, cryptococcosis and histoplasmosis are the most frequently occurring IFIs in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Fungi, such as Candida spp. and Aspergillus spp., may cause severe diseases during the course of an HIV infection. Following the introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy, there has been a marked reduction of opportunistic fungal infections, which today is 20-25 % of the number of infections observed in the mid-1990s. This study is an observational and retrospective study aimed at the characterising IFI incidence and describing the epidemiology, clinical diagnostic and therapeutic features and denouement in HIV/AIDS patients. In HIV/AIDS patients, the IFI incidence is 54.3/1,000 hospitalisation/year, with a lethality of 37.7 %. Cryptococcosis represents the main opportunistic IFI in the population, followed by histoplasmosis. Nosocomial pathogenic yeast infections are caused principally by Candida spp., with a higher candidemia incidence at our institution compared to other Brazilian centres.