In order to characterize the epidemiology, microbiology and outcome of candidemia due to Candida parapsilosis, we examined a database of 282 episodes of candidemia prospectively collected from four tertiary care hospitals in São Paulo, Brazil between March 2002 and February 2003, and compared the characteristics of patients with candidemia due to C. parapsilosis (n=64) with those caused by Candida albicans (n=107). C. parapsilosis candidemia was associated with neutropenia (p=0.005), tunneled central venous catheter (p=0.005) and cancer chemotherapy (p=0.03). By multivariate analysis, candidemia due to C. parapsilosis was associated with the presence of a tunneled central venous catheter (relative risk 3.71, 95% confidence interval 1.28-10.70). Except for a single isolate of C. parapsilosis that exhibited MIC >1 microg/ml to amphotericin B, no resistance was observed in 166 isolates tested against fluconazole, itraconazole, 5-flucytosine and amphotericin B. The caspofungin MIC values of C. parapsilosis isolates were significantly higher than those exhibited by C. albicans isolates (p<0.001). The overall mortality of patients with candidemia due to C. parapsilosis was significantly lower (45% vs. 62%, p=0.03). The association between C. parapsilosis candidemia and a tunneled central venous catheter supports the idea that the main mode of acquisition of C. parapsilosis is from an external source.