title: An estimate of the burden of serious fungal diseases in Greece.
abstract: Data on the epidemiology of serious fungal infections in Greece are scarce. Our aim was to calculate the burden of serious fungal diseases in Greece. A thorough literature search for papers reporting epidemiological data on serious fungal diseases in Greece was performed. Where no Greek data existed, we used a structured set of assumptions to estimate fungal disease burden, based on specific high-risk populations. Of the 10.8 million population, 85.5 % are adults and 27 % are over 60 years of age. The annual fungal disease estimates are as follows: 142,337 Greek women get recurrent vaginal thrush (2,632 cases/100,000 females); there are 889 cases of esophageal candidiasis (8.2 cases/100,000); annual incidence of Pneumocystis pneumonia is 112 cases; chronic pulmonary aspergillosis prevalence is 386 cases; there are 20,843 patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and 27,744 with severe asthma with fungal sensitization; candidaemia incidence is 541 cases (5.0/100,000); there are 81 cases of Candida peritonitis; invasive aspergillosis occurs in 1,125 patients. According to our calculations, 194,067 individuals (1.79 cases/100,000) in Greece suffer from serious fungal diseases each year. This is the first attempt to determine the burden of fungal diseases in Greece, and provides a crude estimate on its impact on public health.
authors.affiliation: The National Aspergillosis Centre, University Hospital of South Manchester, The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK.|Infectious Diseases Unit, Pathophysiology Department, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Mikras Asias 75, Athens, 11527, Greece.
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Gamaletsou
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory, 4th Dept. of Internal Medicine, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drogari-Apiranthitou
authors.affiliation: The National Aspergillosis Centre, University Hospital of South Manchester, The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Denning
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Unit, Pathophysiology Department, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Mikras Asias 75, Athens, 11527, Greece. nsipsas@med.uoa.gr.
authors.forename: N V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Sipsas
mesh_terms: D060085:Coinfection; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005658:Fungi; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D009181:Mycoses / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Burden; Epidemiology; Fungal diseases; Greece