Preventing Fungal Infections in the ICU Setting

Fungal diseases can range from mild skin rashes to life-threatening, invasive infections that primarily occur in immunocompromised hosts. Hospitalized patients, particularly those in intensive care units (ICU), may have characteristics that make them more prone to serious healthcare-associated fungal infections, placing them at risk for severe morbidity and mortality. Invasive healthcare-associated fungal infections are defined as systemic, generalized, and severe life-threatening infections acquired during the receipt of healthcare. The number of at-risk persons is growing as more people live with cancer and transplantation. We aim to describe current risk factors for healthcare-associated fungal infections and prevention methods in ICU settings in this chapter.