Mycoses at Hospital Universitario "Ruiz y Páez", Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, 2002]

To estimate the prevalence of mycoses in the Universitary Hospital "Ruiz y Páez" (Bolivar State, Venezuela) during 2002, a retrospective study was carried out. Four hundred and fifty six mycoses were diagnosed in 250,956 patients. The most frequent mycoses, the cutaneous form (94.5%), were produced by dermatophytes, Malassezia furfur and Candida spp. in 90%. Deep mycoses were detected in 4.7% and consisted of histoplasmosis (2.6%), paracoccidioidomycosis (1.7%) and cryptococcosis (0.4%). Several patients with deep mycoses presented HIV infection, tuberculosis and hematological disorders (neoplasias among them). The frequency of mycoses in the general population that attend the Hospital Universitario "Ruiz y Páez" is low, superficial mycoses are predominant, and some conditions seem to predispose to deep mycoses.