Abstract
Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a yeast infection with a global reach and millions of dollars are spent annually for its diagnosis and treatment. Recently, Candida glabrata with different degrees of antifungal resistance has been considered as the second most common cause of vaginal infections. The aim of the present study is to determine the antifungal susceptibility and molecular epidemiology profiles of C. glabrata isolates from patients with VVC. Sixty-one C. glabrata isolates were examined for antifungal susceptibility using the EUCAST broth microdilution method. Moreover, microsatellite length polymorphism (MLP) was used for typing the C. glabrata isolates using six microsatellite markers. Overall, 13, 3.3, and 0% of the isolates were non-wild types to itraconazole, posaconazole, and voriconazole, respectively. Sixty (98.4%) isolates were an intermediate phenotype to fluconazole and only one isolate was fluconazole resistant. Microsatellite length polymorphism with a discriminatory power of 0.964 identified 35 distinct types and 24 singleton genotypes. The assessment of the population genetic structure revealed that the non-wild-type population had a moderate genetic differentiation compared to the wild type population (FST = 0.1457). It was also found that the most common genotypes were G27 (eight strains), G12 (six strains), and G4 (five strains). We found that eight strains were resistant/a non-wild phenotype to itraconazole. Five out of eight (62.5%) resistant/non-wild phenotype strains correlated to a predominant genotype (GT27) and the rest belonged to GT11 (12.5%), GT29 (12.5%), and GT28 (12.5%). The current study is the first molecular epidemiology study in the southwest of Iran and demonstrates the antifungal susceptibility profiles of C. glabrata in it. This study shows a wide range of the genetic diversity of C. glabrata (35 different genotypes) from VVC in the southwest of Iran. The majority of the non-wild isolates had a dominant genotype or genotypes related to this dominant genotype (clonal cluster one).
Highlights
Vaginitis or vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a yeast infection with a global reach and millions of dollars are annually spent for its diagnosis and treatment (Essel et al, 2014)
Throughout the last decades, the occurrence of VVC with the non-albicans Candida (NAC) species has mainly been due to C. glabrata the most common genotypes and their association with azoles susceptibility are investigated
All the C. glabrata isolates were susceptible to voriconazole and only one isolate was resistant to fluconazole
Summary
Vaginitis or vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a yeast infection with a global reach and millions of dollars are annually spent for its diagnosis and treatment (Essel et al, 2014). Up to 50% of the cases have had at least one episode of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC) (Richter et al, 2005; Amouri et al, 2011; Makanjuola et al, 2018). The persistence of RVVC and resistance to antifungals are more common in Candida glabrata (Makanjuola et al, 2018). The main cause of VVC and RVVC is Candida albicans in more than 80–90% of cases (Amouri et al, 2011; Sardi et al, 2013; Rezaei-Matehkolaei et al, 2016). Throughout the last decades, the occurrence of VVC with the non-albicans Candida (NAC) species has mainly been due to C. glabrata the most common genotypes and their association with azoles susceptibility are investigated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
