WHAT IS INVASIVE CANDIDIASIS?
Invasive candidiasis (pronounced inn·vay·suhv kan·duh·dai·uh·suhs) is a serious infection caused by a yeast called Candida (pronounced kan·duh·duh). You may be familiar with yeast—we use it to make bread and wine. Yeast is all around us. Candida is pretty common, too. It typically lives harmlessly on our skin and in parts of our bodies such as the mouth, throat, lining of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract (gut), and vagina. However, when Candida gets into part of the body that should be free of germs (sterile sites), it causes invasive disease. Invasive candidiasis occurs most frequently in people who are very sick or have weakened immune systems.
