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.

Serious fungal infections in Chile

“…There is probably some overlap between these groups as some patients with ABPA have severe asthma and all are sensitised to Aspergillus . Based on our data, the incidence and prevalence of respiratory fungal infections are one of the lowest in Latin American, contrasting with those reported for Brazil [25] and the Dominican Republic [26]. However, the lack of a prospective cohort study of ABPA or SAFS in Latin America or Chile, and no fungal sensitisation data apart from Alternaria spp., is a major limiting factor for our estimates.…”

Burden of Fungal Infections in Colombia

“…It is based on a proposed methodology that has been widely used, including in neighboring countries [49,50,51]. This is a challenging task due to the lack of a mandatory surveillance system for the majority of fungal diseases.…”

Triazole Resistance Is Still Not Emerging in Aspergillus fumigatus Isolates Causing Invasive Aspergillosis in Brazilian Patients

“…Currently, in Brazil, there is no fungal infection in the list of officially reportable diseases, but the incidence of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) was estimated to be as high as 6.2/100,000 inhabitants. However, fungal diseases are neglected by both the public and private health systems, and only a few cases are diagnosed and treated (29). The lack of CPA diagnosis and the consequent absence of treatment for these patients may help to explain the lack of resistant isolates in this study.…”