The Burden of Serious Fungal Infections in Tajikistan

Abstract

Tajikistan is a low-income country in Middle Asia with a population of 8.9 million people. Five percent of the population lives on less than 1.9 USD a day and 54% live on less than 5.5 USD a day. We have estimated the burden of serious fungal infections in Tajikistan. It was estimated that 168,834 Tajik women develop recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. Among HIV-positive patients, we estimate 490 patients with oesophageal candidiasis and 1260 patients with oral candidiasis, 41 cases of cryptococcal meningitis and 210 cases of Pneumocystis pneumonia annually. According to our estimations there are 774 cases of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) as a sequel of tuberculosis; CPA may occur as a consequence of multiple pulmonary conditions and the total prevalence of 4161 cases was estimated. We have estimated 6008 cased of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) and 7930 cases of severe asthma with fungal sensitisation (SAFS), and 137 fungal asthma deaths annually. We have estimated 445 cases of candidemia a year applying a low European rate. There are approximately 283 cases of invasive aspergillosis annually. There are 189,662 (2.1% of the population) people suffering from serious fungal infections in Tajikistan. Hence, improving diagnostics is the first step of understanding a scale of the fungal burden.