Candida albicans versus non-albicans bloodstream infection in patients in a tertiary hospital: an analysis of microbiological data.
Considerable changes in the relative frequency of systemic infections due to various Candida species as well as their in vitro susceptibility patterns have been noted in several parts of the world. We performed an analysis of microbiological data of patients with candidaemia at the University general (tertiary) hospital of Heraklion, Greece. During the study period (March 2001 to July 2006) 140 patients had candidaemia. Among them, 64/140 (46%) had candidaemia due to C. albicans and 76/140 (54%) due to non-albicans species (19/76, 25%, C. glabrata; 30/76, 40%, C. tropicalis; 20/76, 26%, C. parapsilosis; 2/76, 3%, C. lusitaniae; 3/76, 4%, C. krusei; and 2/76, 3%, C. guilliermondii). 75 isolates were tested for in vitro susceptibility to antifungal agents with E-test. No isolate was found to be resistant to amphotericin. From 34 C. albicans isolates, 5 (15%) were not susceptible to itraconazole, and 1 (3%) to fluconazole. The C. guilliermondii and the C. lusitaniae isolates were not susceptible to itraconazole. All 11 C. glabrata isolates were not susceptible to ketoconazole and itraconazole, with only 5 (45%) to fluconazole. In line with results of other relevant studies, we documented that a considerable proportion of Candida bloodstream infections were due to non-albicans Candida species.
Samonis
George
G
Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Kofteridis
Diamantis P
DP
Saloustros
Emmanouil
E
Giannopoulou
Konstantina P
KP
Ntziora
Fotinie
F
Christidou
Athanasia
A
Maraki
Sofia
S
Falagas
Matthew E
ME
D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002175:Candida / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000382:microbiology*; D025141:Drug Resistance, Fungal; D005260:Female; D016469:Fungemia / Q000382:microbiology*; D006115:Greece; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests
D000935:Antifungal Agents