Identification of Candida Species from Clinical Isolates and Their Antifungal Susceptibility Pattern.

ABSTRACT

With increasing use of antibacterial and cytotoxic drugs, lethal invasive Candidiasis is on the rise, with almost half of the cases being caused by non albicans Candida species (NAC). Frequent use of azoles for empirical therapy has also led to their increased resistance. We wanted to characterise Candida species isolated from various clinical specimens and assess their susceptibility pattern to Fluconazole and Voriconazole.METHODSA total of 100 consecutive Candida species isolated from various clinical specimens in our institute from January 2016 to December 2016 were included in the study. Standard yeast identification protocol and CHROM agar were used for speciation and their antifungal susceptibility pattern was found by disc diffusion method.RESULTSOut of the 100 isolates, C. tropicalis was the predominant isolate (47%), followed by C. albicans (31%), C. parapsilosis (16%) and C. krusei (6%). Females (57%) were more affected and maximum number of patients was above 60 years (24%). Diabetes mellitus (21%) was the major predisposing factor for Candida, followed by broad spectrum antibiotic therapy (14%). Isolates were more susceptible to Voriconazole (99%) than Fluconazole (87%). NAC spp. showed more resistance to Fluconazole (17.4%) than C. albicans (3.3%). Only one isolate of C. krusei (16.6%) showed resistance to Voriconazole.CONCLUSIONSDue to the increasing incidence of azole resistant NAC spp., the species level identification of Candida species, along with their anti-fungal susceptibility patterns can help the clinicians in formulating a treatment protocol and can help in decreasing the mortality and morbidity.