Table 2.
Examples of risk factors for fungal infection
| Risk factors for Candida sepsis |
| Candida colonisation at multiple sites [177–179] |
| Surrogate markers such as Serum Beta-D-Glucan assay [177] |
| Neutropenia [180, 181] |
| Immunosuppression [173, 180, 181] |
| Severity of illness (High APACHE score) [182, 183] |
| Longer ICU length of stay [183] |
| Central venous catheters and other intravascular devices [168, 180, 181, 184] |
| Persons who inject drugs [185] |
| Total parenteral nutrition [186] |
| Broad spectrum antibiotics [178, 187] |
| Gastrointestinal tract perforations and anastomotic leaks [186, 188–190] |
| Emergency gastrointestinal or hepatobiliary surgery [190] |
| Acute renal failure and haemodialysis [186, 188] |
| Severe thermal injury [191–193] |
| Prior surgery [186] |
| Risk factors for endemic yeast (cryptococcus, histoplasma, blastomyces, coccidioidomycosis) |
| Antigen markers such as cryptococcal, histoplasma or blastomyces assays [194–196] |
| HIV infection [197–200] |
| Solid organ transplantation [199, 201–203] |
| High dose corticosteroid therapy [199] |
| Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation [204] |
| Certain biologic response modifiers [205, 206] |
| Diabetes mellitus [207] |
| Risk factor for invasive mold infection |
| Neutropenia [204, 208] |
| Surrogate markers such as Serum or Bronchoalveolar Lavage Galactomannan Assay [209–211] |
| Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation [204, 208, 212] |
| Solid organ transplantation [202, 212–214] |
| High dose corticosteroid therapy [215, 216] |
| Certain biologic response modifiers [206, 217, 218] |
The decision to start empirical antifungal therapy depends on the type and number of risk factors, along with the locale epidemiology of fungal infections