English

Abstract

Candida is one of the most frequently encountered opportunistic fungi that cause infection in humans. The pathogenesis of Candida is complex and probably varies with each infection. This study was conducted to understand the prevalence of Candida from various clinical specimens of patients and to show the emergence of Non albicans Candida in clinical samples. This study also focused on the antifungal susceptibility which guides the clinicians to treat the infection effectively. METHODS: Clinical samples were collected from outpatients and inpatients of Government General Hospital, Kurnool over a period of one year from March2008 to June2009. Isolation, culture, speciation of Candida was done by using standard methods. Antifungal susceptibility testing was done by disc diffusion technique against amphotericin B, nystatin, fluconazole and clotrimazole. RESULTS: Candida manifests in various sites depending on the predisposing factors and immune status of the person. In this study we found the association of Candida with various predisposing factors (Pregnancy, Oral contraceptive pills's, Immune suppression, Diabetes). This study observed the dominance of non-albicans Candida (51%) in the clinical samples over Candida albicans (49%). The maximum antifungal susceptibility was observed against amphotericin B in both the albicans and non-albicans Candia, but non-albicans Candida showed maximum resistance to azoles. CONCLUSION: Candida albicans was the most predominant species (49%) isolated in various clinical samples. There was an increase in the prevalence of non albicans Candida in this study. Among the nonalbicans Candida (51%) Candid tropicalis was the commonest species isolated. Candida albicans showed maximum susceptibility to amphotericin B and maximum resistance to azoles was seen in nonalbicans Candida.