ABSTRACT
The incidence of invasive opportunistic fungal infections continues to increase as sophisticated technologies to prolong the lives of severely ill patients are implemented [1-5]. Opportunistic fungi are often found as either normal commensal organisms of the human gastrointestinal tract, skin, and/or mucosa or as ubiquitous organisms in the soil and environment. Extended granulocytopenia, the use of broad-spectrum antibacterial antibiotics, indwelling central venous catheters, immunosuppression, and disruption of mucosal barriers by chemotherapy and radiotherapy have all been implicated as risk factors allowing these normally harmless fungi to invade host tissues [1,6-8]. Once invasion occurs, these infections cause significant morbidity and mortality in patients with underlying diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and AIDS [1,6,7,9].
