Invasive Candida Infections

Abstract

THE evolution of fungi of the genus candida from infrequent pathogens to among the most common agents of nosocomial infection has been both dynamic and interesting. The story of their emergence began in the early 1960s with events remarkably similar to those (recently recounted in the Journal by Klein¹) involving the transformation of coagulase-negative staphylococci from a harmless commensal to an invasive pathogen. The severity of the problem is illustrated by the data collected by the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System during the past decade. Jarvis and colleagues² reported studying 344,610 nosocomial pathogens reported to the surveillance system between . . .