Mixed fungemia: incidence, risk factors, and mortality in a general hospital.
BACKGROUND
Fungemia has been historically considered to be a disease caused by a single Candida species; the detection of >1 species of yeast in circulating blood was distinctly uncommon using traditional microbiological procedures. We describe episodes of mixed fungemia (MF), detected between 1985 and 2006, in a large teaching hospital.


METHODS
The study was divided into 2 periods that were separated by the introduction, in January 2005, of the CHROmagar Candida medium (CHROMagar) for the routine subculturing of blood cultures in which yeast has been identified. Overall, we documented 747 cases of fungemia. During the first period (1985-1994), we identified 217 episodes of fungemia and no single episode of MF; during the second period (1995-2006), 15 episodes of MF were detected among 530 episodes of fungemia (2.8%). Candida albicans was isolated in 13 patients, non-albicans species of Candida in 16 patients, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in 1 patient. Each episode of MF was compared with 2 control episodes of monomicrobial fungemia.


RESULTS
Patients with MF had more frequently experienced organ transplantation (13% vs. 0%) and surgery (60% vs. 27%), had less frequently received parenteral nutrition (40% vs. 70%) or had intravenous lines (80% vs. 100%), and had a lower incidence of shock (6% vs. 37%) and a lower mortality (20% vs. 53%).


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the introduction of chromogenic agar, MF is still an uncommon disease and has a less severe outcome than does monomicrobial candidemia.
Jensen
Julia
J
Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
Muñoz
Patricia
P
Guinea
Jesús
J
Rodríguez-Créixems
Marta
M
Peláez
Teresa
T
Bouza
Emilio
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002175:Candida / Q000145:classification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000145:classification* / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D016469:Fungemia / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000472:pathogenicity; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology