title: The burden of serious human fungal infections in Brazil.
abstract: In Brazil, human fungal infections are prevalent, however, these conditions are not officially reportable diseases. To estimate the burden of serious fungal diseases in 1 year in Brazil, based on available data and published literature. Historical official data from fungal diseases were collected from Brazilian Unified Health System Informatics Department (DATASUS). For fungal diseases for which no official data were available, assumptions of frequencies were made by estimating based on published literature. The incidence (/1000) of hospital admissions for coccidioidomycosis was 7.12; for histoplasmosis, 2.19; and for paracoccidioidomycosis, 7.99. The estimated number of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis cases was 6832. Also, there were 4115 cases of Pneumocystis pneumonia in AIDS patients per year, 1 010 465 aspergillosis and 2 981 416 cases of serious Candida infections, including invasive and non-invasive diseases. In this study, we demonstrate that more than 3.8 million individuals in Brazil may be suffering from serious fungal infections, mostly patients with malignant cancers, transplant recipients, asthma, previous tuberculosis, HIV infection and those living in endemic areas for truly pathogenic fungi. The scientific community and the governmental agencies should work in close collaboration in order to reduce the burden of such complex, difficult-to-diagnose and hard to treat diseases.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduation Program in Pathology, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFSCPA), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juliana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Giacomazzi
authors.affiliation: Postgraduation Program in Pathology, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFSCPA), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ludmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baethgen
authors.affiliation: Postgraduation Program in Pathology, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFSCPA), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lilian C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiological Vigilance, Ministry of Health, Secretary of Health Vigilance, Brasília, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Adelaide
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Millington
authors.affiliation: Education and Research Centre - University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Denning
authors.affiliation: Departament of Medicine, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Arnaldo L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Colombo
authors.affiliation: Postgraduation Program in Pathology, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFSCPA), Porto Alegre, Brazil.|Molecular Biology Laboratory, Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre (ISCMPA), Hospital Dom Vicente Scherer (HDVS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alessandro C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pasqualotto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009181:Mycoses / Q000150:complications / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Brazilian fungal burden; Fungal infections; epidemiology; mycology