ABSTRACT

During the 1980s and 1990s the vast majority of articles on the epidemiology of fungal infections introduced the topic with a statement highlighting the increased incidence of fungal infections during the last two decades of the 20th century. This was not just pointless exaggeration to attract the attention of readers and grant reviewers; it is simply very difficult to ignore the fact that there are now far more identified cases of fungal infections caused by a greater number of fungal species than ever before. What we hope to achieve in this chapter is to explain why the study of fungal epidemiology is important and necessary and to outline our current understanding of the epidemiology of infections caused by Candida and other fungal species. We will describe the molecular techniques currently in use and will discuss the factors that have influenced the changes that have occurred in the epidemiology of selected pathogenic fungal species.