ABSTRACT
In the past two decades, there has been an explosion of infonnation on the epidemiology, strain typing, and population genetics of fungi pathogenic to humans and other animals. This interest can be attributed to several factors, including the increase in mycotic infections, the expanding variety and availability of strain typing techniques, significant collaborative studies involving diverse geographic areas, and the conceptual advancements in methodology and development of improved software programs for analysis of the data. As described in previous chapters and recent reviews, a variety of molecular typing methods have been developed to analyze the similarity among individual strains [1,2]. Studies of the population dynamics of a pathogenic fungus will clarify epidemiological trends and assist researchers to select appropriate strains in the search for virulence factors and target molecules for novel antifungal drugs, vaccines, or diagnostic tests [3,4].
