Epidemiology of antifungal susceptibility: Review of literature

Fungal infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality despite the latest developments of diagnostic tools and therapeutic options. Early initiation of the appropriate antifungal therapy has been demonstrated to have a direct impact on the patient's outcome. Antifungal susceptibility testing methods are available to detect antifungal resistance and to determine the best treatment for a specific fungus. American and European standards have been developed, as well as equivalent commercial systems, which are more appropriate for clinical laboratories. These studies have allowed the development of interpretative breakpoints against the most frequent agents of fungal infections in the world. Surveillance of antifungal susceptibility patterns can provide the local drug resistance data to the clinicians, which can further aid better management of patients. Antifungal susceptibility tests have become essential tools to identify resistance to antifungals, to know the local and global disease epidemiology and to guide the treatment of fungal diseases. The distribution of species and the prevalence of antifungal resistance in fungi isolates varied among different areas. Here we summarize the epidemiology of antifungal susceptibility pattern of different fungal species.