Epidemiological Attributes of Candida Species in Tropical Regions

Global burden associated with the growing incidence of fungal infections poses as a serious threat especially in developing countries. Several local surveillance programs have already been established to follow the epidemiological characteristics of Candida infections; however, these programs often only focused on broadly researched regions, like Europe, North America, and certain Asian countries. Therefore, the need to evaluate epidemiological data is high in less studied regions, for example in the tropical climate zone countries, especially since the number of fungal infections is generally described to be higher in these locations. C. albicans is still the most often isolated pathogenic species, in the Candida genus; however, the importance of other NAC (non-albicans Candida species) is increasing. Distributions of frequently isolated Candida species known to differ according to climate zones. For instance, Northern Europe and the USA generally report C. glabrata as the most prominent NAC species, while C. tropicalis-associated infections are more common in tropical regions. Current epidemiological data from tropic regions highlights the importance to study Candida-associated fungal infections in these locations, since besides the most common pathogens, emerging species like C. auris appearing to become more frequently isolated.