Neonatal Fungal Infections: The State of the Art

Summary

Candida spp is the 3^rd most frequent cause of sepsis in preterm infants, with high attributable mortality and poor outcome. Neonatal fungal infections include bloodstream, urine, cerebrospinal and peritoneal infections. Preterm infants display specific, often unavoidable, risk factors for SFI, with fungal colonization being the most significant one. Prompt treatment does not prevent poor long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. Thus, prevention is the milestone, and should mainly rely on the administration of targeted prophylactic fluconazole to high-risk infants, as recently demonstrated by a large Italian multicenter study. As prevention is key in pediatrics, finally we can deliver this to this vulnerable population.