Invasive fungal disease in humans: are we aware of the real impact?

Abstract

In this perspective article, the main risk factors of people to develop IFD are summarised, to aid recognising the impact of fungi on human health, an issue often underestimated and underappreciated. Considering that IFD are often disregarded during routine hospital care, it is very important to emphasise to microbiologists, diagnostic laboratory staff and clinicians, that not only the number but the diversity of patients at-risk for IFD are continuously rising, with mortality rates than remain unacceptably high.³ Additionally, most fungal infections are not reportable diseases, thus reliable information on local and global prevalence is not available. This review recalls the updated definition of IFD, collates recent epidemiological data and describes, in order of frequency, the most susceptible groups of people to acquire an IFD, namely those who undergo medical interventions, people with immunosuppression induced either by the treatment of an associated illnesses or by an underlying disease, people with bacterial or viral co-infections and immunocompetent individuals who acquire an IFD by environmental exposure.