Candida species, genotypes and antifungal susceptibility of Candida isolates from blood samples of patients at the largest tertiary care hospital in Thailand during 1999-2002.

From 1999 to 2002, a total of 202 Candida isolates causing candidemia were recovered from 202 individual patients in the largest tertiary hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. C. albicans comprised 44.55 per cent of all isolates. Non-albicans Candida spp. isolates accounted for 55.45 per cent of all candidemia episodes and were primarily due to C. tropicalis (45%) followed by C. parapsilosis (6%), C. glabrata (4%), and C. krusei (0.5%). Non-albicans Candida spp appeared more frequently in children (59%). Regarding etiology, non-albicans Candida spp showed an increase (67%) in the year 2002. The distribution of C. albicans genotypes was as follows: genotype A, 71 per cent; genotype B, 26 per cent and genotype C, 3 per cent, with a similar susceptibility proportion to amphotericin B, fluconazole and itraconazole. All isolates of C. albicans, C. tropicalis, and C. parapsilosis were susceptible to fluconazole in vitro. Only 16.7-19.8 per cent of the isolates were resistant to itraconazole. A high proportion of C. glabrata isolates showed drugs resistance.