Candidaemia in patients of a tertiary health care hospital from north India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Candidaemia is an important cause of mortality in hospital settings. Limited information is available from India on nosocomial candidaemia. The objective of the present study was to isolate and identify yeasts from patients suspected to have nosocomial bloodstream infection (BSI) and to determine the carriage rate of Candida species, risk factors for acquisition of infection and mortality in this group of patients. METHODS: Blood samples from 4871 patients suspected to have BSI at least 48 h after admission were cultured following standard protocol to isolate and identify the pathogens. Clinical details, possible risk factors and outcome of all candidaemic patients were recorded and analysed. Samples of hand washings and throat gargles from these patients were also cultured to determine the carriage rate. Candida albicans isolated from patients and their carriage sites were genotyped by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis to study strain relatedness. RESULTS: Twenty one patients with candidaemia were detected with mortality of 55 per cent. Candidaemia per 1000 admissions was 1.61. Isolation of non-C. albicans Candida species was significantly higher than C. albicans (14/21 vs 7/21: P < 0.05). Use of broad-spectrum antibiotics (43%), gastrointestinal surgery (23%), immunosuppressive therapy (23%), protein calorie malnutrition with parenteral hyperalimentation (23%) and neutropaenia (14%) were identified as probable risk factors. The seven C. albicans strains isolated from patients with BSI were typed into 6 genotypes. Yeast carriage rate among the patients was 71.4 per cent. C. albicans isolated from the hand, throat and blood of two patients had identical genotype. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: BSI due to non-C. albicans Candida species is more common than C. albicans in our patients and candidaemia is associated with high mortality. RAPD appears to be a simple method to study strain relatedness for C. albicans. There is a need for early diagnosis and systematic surveillance to meet the challenges of nosocomial candidaemia.