Increase in Candida parapsilosis fungemia in critical care units: a 6-years study.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to asses possible clinically significant differences between C. parapsilosis and other candida species candidemia receiving care in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting.


METHODS
The study included 118 adult patients diagnosed as candidemia after admission to the ICU of a university hospital between January 2004 and December 2009. Data about demographic characteristics, underlying diseases, and risk factors for ICU-related candidemia were collected.


RESULTS
During the study period, 118 patients with candidemia were identified among 2,853 patients admitted into the ICU. Candidemia was seen in 41.4 cases per 1,000 ICU admissions. The overall incidence of candidemia in ICU patients during the study period was 2.09 per 1,000 hospital admissions. Of the isolates, 18.6% were C. albicans and 81.4% were C. non-albicans. The species most frequently isolated was C. parapsilosis (66.1%, 78/118). The distribution of other Candida spp. was as follows: 15 had C. tropicalis (12.7%) and 3 had C. glabrata (2.5%). By Statistical analysis, when patients with candidemia who had C. parapsilosis were compared with other Candida spp., the following factors were found to be significantly associated with C. parapsilosis fungemia; intravascular catheters (p = 0.008), malignity (p = 0.049) and age (p = 0.039). Relationship was found between C. tropicalis and hematologic malignancies (p = 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
When infections with a high mortality such as candidemia is suspected in critically ill patients, it is important to know local risk factors and epidemiological distributions of causative agents in selection of empirical and effective antifungal treatment.
Zeytinli Bahçe caddesi, Tip Fakültesi Hastanesi, Klinik Mikrobiyoloji ve Infeksiyon Hastaliklari, Mersin Universitesi, 33079, Mersin, Turkey. sahinelif@gmail.com
Elif Sahin
ES
Horasan
Gülden
G
Ersöz
Musa
M
Göksu
Feza
F
Otag
Ahmet Oner
AO
Kurt
Sevim
S
Karaçorlu
Ali
A
Kaya
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002175:Candida / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D016469:Fungemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology