Retrospective Evaluation of Distribution and Antifungal Susceptibilities of Candida Species Isolated from Blood Cultures

Abstract

Candidemia is a serious clinical presentation with a rather high mortality. Over the last years, there have been important changes in the epidemiology of Candida infections and antifungal agents used to treat these infections. In this study, the identification of the Candida species isolated from blood cultures and investigation of their susceptibilities against amphotericin B, caspofungin, fluconazole, flucytosine and voriconazole retrospectively were aimed. Yeasts detected from blood cultures in our laboratory between January 2013 and December 2014 were identified by conventional methods, germ tube and VITEK 2 Compact (bioMérieux, France) automated identification system and susceptibilities to antifungal agents were determined by VITEK 2 Compact System. Among 280 Candida spp., strains isolated, 95 (33.9 %) were identified as Candida parapsilosis, the others were identified as follows: 77 (27.5 %) Candida albicans, 45 (16 %) Candida tropicalis, 27(9.6 %) Candida glabrata, nine (3.2 %) Candida kefyr, nine (3.2 %) Candida lusitaniae, five (1.7 %) Candida krusei, four (1.4 %) Candida famata, four (1.4 %) Candida sphaerica, two (0.7 %) Candida dubliniensis, one (0.3 %) Candida haemulonii, one (0.3 %) Candida norvegensis and one (0.3 %) Candida pelliculosa. Interpretation of antifungal susceptibility tests of C.albicans, C.parapsilosis, C.tropicalis, C.glabrata, C.krusei isolates were made to 249 as described. As a result of our study, in which Candida strains resistant to antifungal agents were isolated, identification to species level and determining antifungal susceptibilities of Candida species isolated from blood cultures is concluded to be important to guide treatment.