Introduction: Kenya is a developing country with a high rate of tuberculosis (TB) and a moderate HIV infection burden. No estimate of the
burden of fungal diseases in Kenya is published.
Methodology: We used specific populations at risk and fungal infection frequencies from the literature to estimate national incidence or
prevalence of serious fungal infections. Used sources were: 2010 WHO TB statistics, Kenya Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
Epidemic Update 2012, Kenya Facts and figures 2012, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-2009.
Results: Of Kenya’s population of ~40 million, 43% are under 15 years old and approximately 594,660 Kenyan women get >4 episodes
Candida vulvovaginitis annually (2,988/100,000). The HIV/AIDS population at risk of opportunistic infections (OI) is 480,000 and the OI
estimates include 306,000 patients with oral thrush (768/100,000), 114,000 with oesophageal candidiasis (286/100,000), 11,900 with
cryptococcal meningitis (29/100,000) and 17,000 patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia (42/100,000). Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis
following TB has a prevalence of 10,848 cases (32/100,000). The adult asthma prevalence is 3.1% and assuming 2.5% have allergic
bronchopulmonary aspergillosis then 17,696 (44/100,000) are affected. Invasive aspergillosis, candidaemia and Candida peritonitis are
probably uncommon. Tinea capitis infects 9.6% of children in Kenya, while fungal keratitis and otomycoses are difficult to estimate.
Conclusion: At any one time, about 7% of the Kenyan population suffers from a significant fungal infection, with recurrent vaginitis and tinea
capitis accounting for 82% of the infections. These estimates require further epidemiological studies for validation.