Hospital-associated candiduria: predisposing factors and review of the literature.

A series is presented of 98 patients with hospital-acquired candiduria identified by continual nosocomial infection surveillance. Analysis of the differences between case-matched controls and 20 patients indicated that there were significant increases in the duration of prior Foley catheterization (12 versus 6 days), length of time on multiple antibiotics (16 versus 7 days) and length of total hospitalization of the infected group. Review of the infected patients' charts showed that the indications for bladder catheterization and use of antibiotics were usually explicitly stated and considered valid. The English literature on primary Candida urinary tract infections is reviewed and future approaches to the problem are summarized.