ABSTRACT
Background: The incidence of fungal infections has increased significantly, contributing to morbidity and mortality. This is caused by an alarming increase in infections with multi‑drug resistant bacteria leading to overuse of broad‑spectrum antimicrobials, which lead to overgrowth of Candida, thus enhancing its opportunity to cause disease. Candida are major human fungal pathogens that cause both mucosal and deep tissue infections. Objective: The aim of our study was to identify the distribution of Candida species among clinical isolates and their sensitivity pattern for common antifungal drugs. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and thirty‑seven different clinical isolates of Candida were collected from patients visiting to a tertiary care centre of Indore from 2010 to 2012. Identification of Candida species as well as antifungal sensitivity testing was performed with Vitek2 Compact (Biomerieux France) using vitek 2 cards for identification of yeast and yeast like organisms (ID-YST cards). Antifungal susceptibility testing was performed with Vitek2 "Fungal Susceptibility Card (AST YS01) kits respectively. Results: We found that the non‑albicans Candida were more prevalent than Candida albicans in paediatric (<3 year) and older (>60 year) patients than other age group (4-18, 19-60 years) patients and also in intensive care unit (ICU) patients as compared to out patient department (OPD) patients. Resistance rates for amphotericin B, fluconazole, flucytosine, itraconazole, and voriconazole were 2.9%, 5.9%, 0.0%, 4.2% and 2.5%%, respectively. All the strains of C. krusei were found resistant to fluconazole with intermediate sensitivity to flucytosine. Conclusion: Species‑level identification of Candida and their antifungal sensitivity testing should be performed to achieve better clinical results.