Four outbreaks of nosocomial systemic candidiasis

Abstract

SUMMARY: Candida albicans has recently been described as a cause of nosocomial infection. This paper reports four further outbreaks occurring over a 12-month period in England. There were 13 systemic cases and 6 deaths. The outbreaks were defined by morphotyping andthe new technique of immunoblot fingerprinting. Controi of the outbreaks was produced bythe implementation of strict cross-infection control policies without recourse to systemic chemoprophylaxis.