Trends in Candida albicans Bloodstream Infections and Antifungal Resistance in a Tertiary Care Hospital in South Korea (2013–2023)

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to analyze the annual, age- and sex-specific frequencies and antifungal resistance rates of Candida albicans infections over an 11-year period (2013 − 2023) at a university hospital in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. A total of 476 cases identified as C. albicans from 260,769 blood cultures were analyzed retrospectively. The annual number of C. albicans isolates increased by 161.1% in 2019 and 136.7% in 2022 compared with that in the previous year. The mean age of patients from whom C. albicans was isolated was 65.8 years, with 51.8% patients being aged 60–79 years. The number of isolates was higher in male patients than in female patients (male-to-female ratio: 1.4:1). Of the isolates, 6.6% were resistant to flucytosine and 4.5% were resistant to voriconazole, whereas all isolates were susceptible to caspofungin and micafungin. Overall, this study provides vital foundational data for tertiary general hospitals in the Chungcheong region and for developing national infection management strategies, thereby providing a valuable basis for future in-depth studies.