Rapid emergence of echinocandin resistance during Candida kefyr fungemia treatment with caspofungin

Abstract

Echinocandin drugs are widely used for the treatment of candidemia. Resistance is considered rare, and only a few cases of breakthrough candidiasis in patients receiving echinocandin have been reported worldwide. We report here for the first time a Candida kefyr isolate that acquired echinocandin resistance very rapidly after the initiation of caspofungin treatment for candidemia. We characterized the FKS gene mutation responsible for the resistance via the comparison of isolates sampled before and during treatment. Copyright © 2013, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.