Clonal dissemination of fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans strains isolated from vulvovaginal candidiasis / 中国感染与化疗杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the distribution and molecular epidemiology of Candida strains isolated from vulvovaginal candidiasis in Shanghai,and conduct molecular phylogenetic analysis of the strains.Methods Candida pathogens were collected from the patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis during the period from August 2015 to February 2016 in Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University,Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital,and Intemational Peace Matemity and Child Health Hospital.All the strains were identified and statistically analyzed.ATB FUNGUS 3 kit was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration of antifungal agents against these strains in vitro.Molecular typing was conducted using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) method.Phylogenetic analysis was carried out by eBURST and MEGA 6 software.Results Of the 2 185 strains of Candida,1 988 were identified as Candida albicans,149 Candida glabrata,20 Candida tropicalis and 28 other Candida species.Overall,6.5％ of the Candida albicans strains were resistant to fluconazole.Twenty-six diploid sequence types (DSTs) were identified among the 93 strains of Candida albicans analyzed,including 50 fluconazole-susceptible strains with sporadic genotypes,but 43 fluconazole-resistant strains clustered as one clonal complex (CC 69) on the same branch (MLST Clade 1) of phylogenetic tree.Conclusions Candida albicans was the main pathogen of vulvovaginal candidiasis in the three obstetrics & gynecology hospitals in Shanghai,which showed slightly higher resistance to fluconazole.It is necessary to monitor the spread of fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans in these hospitals,especially clonal dissemination of CC 69 clone.