FUNGEMIA IN CANCER-PATIENTS IN BRAZIL - PREDOMINANCE OF NON-ALBICANS SPECIES

The objective of this study was to characterize the epidemiology of ca ndidemia in cancer patients in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An 18-month survey of fungemia in patients with cancer was undertaken in three Hospitals in Rio de Janeiro. Forty-three episodes of candidemia were identified in 43 patients, 43 of which were episodes of candidemi a; in ten cases the strains were not available for further identificat ion of species and were excluded from this analysis. The overall distr ibution of fungi causing fungemia was: Candida albicans (5), Candida t ropicalis (16), Candida parapsilosis (6), Candida guilliermondii (4), Candida lusitaniae (1) and Candida stellatoidea (1). Antifungal prophy laxis had been administered before the episode of fungemia in only six patients (18.2%): oral itraconazole in three patients and oral nistat in, low dose intravenous amphotericin B and oral fluconazole in one pa tient each. There was no difference in the presence of risk factors, c linical characteristics or in the outcome between albicans and non-alb icans species, nor between Candida tropicalis and other non-albicans s pecies. There was a clear predominance of non-albicans species, regard less of the underlying disease, antifungal prophylaxis or the presence of neutropenia.