title: Clusters of patients with candidaemia due to genotypes of Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis: differences in frequency between hospitals.
abstract: The presence of clusters (identical genotypes infecting different patients) suggests patient-to-patient transmission or a common source for strains. We report the results of a genotyping study based on microsatellite markers of Candida albicans (n = 179) and Candida parapsilosis (n = 76) causing candidaemia, to assess and compare the percentage of patients grouped in clusters during the study period (January 2010 to December 2012). The study was performed in two large tertiary hospitals in Madrid, Spain. We detected 145 C. albicans genotypes (21 in clusters) and 63 C. parapsilosis genotypes (seven in clusters). Clusters involved two to seven patients each. Most of the clusters in the two centres involved two patients for both species, but the number of patients included in each cluster differed between hospitals. Considering both species, the percentage of patients per cluster ranged from 19% to 38% (p < 0.05) in Hospital A and B respectively. Up to 2.9% of genotypes were present in both hospitals. Clusters of C. albicans and C. parapsilosis genotypes causing candidaemia differed between hospitals, suggesting differences in strain transmission. Occasionally, the same genotypes were found in patients admitted to different hospitals located in the same city.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Marcos-Zambrano
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias-CIBERES (CB06/06/0058), Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: pilar.escribano.martos@gmail.com.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Escribano
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanguinetti
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal and Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Biomédica, Madrid, Spain; Red Española de Investigación en Patología Infecciosa, Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gómez G de la Pedrosa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Carolis
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vella
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal and Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Biomédica, Madrid, Spain; Red Española de Investigación en Patología Infecciosa, Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cantón
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias-CIBERES (CB06/06/0058), Madrid, Spain; Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bouza
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias-CIBERES (CB06/06/0058), Madrid, Spain; Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: jguineaortega@yahoo.es.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guinea
mesh_terms: D002175:Candida / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D058387:Candidemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D058889:Molecular Typing; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal
keywords: Candida albicans; Candida parapsilosis; Madrid; Spain; clusters; genotyping; microsatellites