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Background. Almost one-third of patients with bloodstream infections with Candida species (candidemia) have onset of disease that occurs outside of the hospital or ⩽2 days after hospital admission (i.e., community-onset candidemia). We compared the characteristics of patients who developed candidemia by the timing of onset of infection. Methods. Incident episodes of candidemia were identified through active, population-based surveillance in Connecticut and in Baltimore and Baltimore County, Maryland, during 1 October 1998-30 September 2000. The molecular subtypes of a sample of 45 Candida parapsilosis isolates were evaluated using Southern blots hybridized with the complex probe Cp3-13. Results. Overall, 356 (31%) of the 1143 incident episodes of candidemia were classified as community-onset disease (occurring ⩽2 days after hospital admission), and 132 (37%) were caused by Candida albicans, 89 (25%) were caused by Candida glabrata, 57 (16%) were caused by C. parapsilosis, and 53 (15%) were caused by Candida tropicalis. Community-onset disease was less likely to be associated with concurrent immunosuppressive therapy, recent surgery, or use of a central venous catheter, compared with inpatient disease. Among patients with community-onset disease, the median time from blood culture to initiation of antifungal treatment was 2.7 days, the 30-day case-fatality rate was 26%, and 262 patients (75%) had been hospitalized at least once in the previous 3 months. Although there were few differences between patients with very recent hospitalization (in the previous 1 month), less recent hospitalization (previous 1-3 months), and no documented past hospitalization, C. parapsilosis was more frequently associated with community-onset disease as hospitalization became more distant. C. parapsilosis strains tended to be unique to the patient, with little similarity found between strain types, on the basis of epidemiologic classification of patients. Conclusion. We report that community-onset candidemia is common and occurs in patients with extensive contact with the health care system. Disease caused by C. parapsilosis tends to involve unique strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]