Distribution And Antifungal Susceptibility Of Candida Species Isolated From Blood Cultures

Abstract

Candidemia has become an important bloodstream infection that is frequently associated with high rates of mortality and morbidity, and its growing incidence is related to complex medical and surgical procedures. We conducted a retrospective study and evaluated the species distribution and antifungal susceptibility of candidemia episodes. In the period of January 2012 to May 2015, 157 episodes of candidemia were identified in the hospital. The overall incidence of candidemia was 0,09 cases per 1,000 admissions and remained stable during the 3-year analysis (P= 0,238). Candida albicans was the leading agent of infection (39.5%), follewed by C. parapsilosis (22.9%), C. tropicalis (14,1%), C. famata (7.6%) and C. glabrata (5.7%). The majority of the candidemia episodes were found in the intensive care units (50,3%), followed by the pediatric, and the hemato-oncology ward. Overall, 14.6% af the isolates tested were resistant to fluconazole and 12.7% and 7.6% of the 157 isolates tested were resistant or susceptible dose dependent (SDD) to voriconazole based on CLSI and EUCAST breakpoints respectively. Higher MICs for fluconazole were found, especially with C. tropicalis (MIC90, 128 mu g/ml). Amphotericin B had the lowest MICs.