Abstract
Data on mycoses known to be imported into the United Kingdom are sparse. Estimates on the prevalence of fungal infections have to be based on indirect and incomplete figures, obtained from isolation figures and reports of individual cases to co-ordinating centres such as the Mycological Reference Laboratory and the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre of the Public Health Laboratory Service. Imported species of dermatophytes account for less than 1% of the total number of isolations made annually at mycological laboratories throughout the U.K. A suggested prevalence of dermatophytosis in this country is c. 250 000 cases per annum. Trichophyton rubrum may now be the most common species of dermatophyte. Other estimates of the frequencies with which infections are recorded each year include mycetoma (7-10), histoplasmosis (2-5), aspergilloma (50-80), invasive aspergillosis (10-30), Candida vaginitis (greater than or equal to 1 000 000), invasive candidiasis (10-80), Candida endocarditis (1-2) and cryptococcosis (6-10).