Special features

Fungal infections — causes and diagnosis

By Natasha Ratnaraja, MbChB, FRACP

The incidence of fungal infections seen in hospital and in the community is rising, due to increased numbers of susceptible patients and increasing resistance to antifungal drugs. This article gives an overview of the most common fungal infections and the organisms that cause them

This article as a FULL TEXT PDF (90K)

At the time of writing Natasha Ratnaraja was specialist registrar in microbiology, City Hospital, Birmingham.

Onchomycosis (nail plate infection)

Onchomycosis (nail plate infection) is caused by the Candida species

SUMMARY

Fungal infections of the skin, hair and nails are commonly encountered in general practice. However, community-acquired infections are increasingly being seen in the hospital environment, and hospital-acquired infections are becoming more common. This upward trend is concerning, considering the limited number of antifungal drugs available, because prophylaxis with antifungals may lead to the emergence of resistant strains.