Paediatric Fungal Infections

Please note that this section was created in 2010: the information provided may be out of date.

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Important information: At no time should the information compiled here be used as a treatment protocol or for any other purpose except to provide a summary of information relating to paediatric patients for educational and scientific purposes. We accept no liability for the use of data gathered here. Treatments should always be carried out according to manufacturers’ instructions. Not all antifungal treatments are licensed for use in paediatric patients.

This section comprises published information regarding the diagnosis and management of invasive fungal infections in children, with specific reference to Aspergillus. The data here are sourced and summarised from a series of publications in Clinical Microbiology Infect. Particularly useful were Groll & Tragiannidis, Roilides & Walsh, and Dornbusch et al. These references are more comprehensive than the data compiled here: we recommend referring to the original publications for further detail. More recent articles and reviews can be found at the bottom of this page. To view and download sources please register or log in here.

Children (in particular neonates and young infants) are a unique patient population, particularly with respect to fungal infections. Invasive fungal infections are difficult to diagnose; however, outcomes and response to treatment are dependent on a prompt initial diagnosis and the initiation of treatment. Please visit the following pages for more information:

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Epidemiology and Clinical Trials

There are significant differences between the epidemiology, presentation and pre-disposing conditions in paediatric patients and adults. The use of antifungal agents in the paediatric patient group requires an understanding of pharmacodynamics and safety issues — accumulating evidence suggests that this can not always be empirically derived from data collected on usage in adult groups.

Many antifungal clinical trials have previously excluded paediatric groups, so there is a lack of large cohort trial literature. However, there is data from smaller cohorts of paediatric patients for various antifungal treatments. New antifungals are continually going into trials, but the need for greater evaluation of paediatric patients is great. Although this website specialises in Aspergillus infections, the lack of paediatric data has led us to include data for other types of fungal infections where it may be useful.

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Collected Sources on Paediatric Fungal Infections