- C A Kauffman: University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor.
Increased travel and outdoor leisure activities place the elderly individual at risk for infection with the endemic mycoses, histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, coccidioidomycoses, and sporotrichosis. Elderly patients who are immunosuppressed are at risk for infection with the opportunistic fungi such as Candida and Aspergillus. In this article, the clinical manifestations and the approach to diagnosis are discussed. The use of antifungal agents that are currently available to treat severe fungal infections also are reviewed.