Prevalence of Candida species in neutropenic patients referred to shahid ghazi hospital affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences by microscopic and their drug susceptibility pattern to Caspofungin and voriconazole

Abstract

A total of 362 clinical samples were collected from 138 patients. After initial isolation using a mix of mycological methods, isolates were screened using the chromogenic culture media. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was applied for molecular identification. Positive or susceptive cases were confirmed using the reference method of sequencing. Antifungal susceptibility testing to voriconazole and caspofungin was carried out using the microbroth dilution method. An in-silico assay was applied for phylogenetic analysis. Results: Thirty-four (24.63%) Candida strains were isolated. C. albicans (47.06%) and C. glabrata (29.41%) were the most frequent strains. Men have a 22% higher chance rate of Candida positivity than women (OR: 1.22; 95% CI: 0.519 to 2.421). Antifungal treatment reduced the chance of Candida colonization by almost 76% in neutropenic patients (OR: 1.759; 95% CI: 1.349 to 2.390; p value: 0.000). An unusual and non-resistant strain, C. lambica, was reported in the bloodstream of a 56-year-old man with hematologic malignancy (HM). Eight isolates were non-susceptible, and one isolate was resistant to voriconazole. Also, 4 isolates were non-susceptible to caspofungin.