Abstract

ANTIFUNGAL SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERN OF CANDIDA SP. ISOLATES FROM CASES OF CANDIDIASIS

Kavitha M. K.* and Dr. Arun B.

Abstract

Candidiasis is one of the most prevalent and important opportunistic fungal infections caused by Candida species. Many studies state that even after introduction of new antifungal agents, drug resistance of Candida sp. will continue to grow and may become crucial, especially to fluconazole. The present study was conducted during a period of one year from September 2016 to September 2017 at a Tertiary care hospital in North Kerala. The clinical samples obtained were isolated and identified as different species of Candida. Antifungal Disk Diffusion Susceptibility Testing was performed using Mueller-Hinton Agar + 2% Glucose and 0.5 μg/mL Methylene Blue Dye (GMB) Medium – with pH between 7.2 and 7.4 and antimicrobial Disks for fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole and amphoterecin B. A total of 180 Candida isolates were obtained. 47% of the isolates were identified as C.albicans, 51% identified as C.tropicalis and 2% as C.glabrata. All the C.albicans and C.glabrata strains (100%)isolated were shown as sensitive to the drugs tested. 62% isolates of C.tropicalis were obtained as sensitive to fluconazole, voriconazole and amphoterecin B and the remaining 38% were obtained as resistant to these drugs. All the C.tropicalis isolates (100%) were sensitive to itraconazole. The study emphasizes on the increased occurrence and emergence of drug resistant strains of C.tropicalis isolates from cases of Candidiasis.

Keywords: C.albicans, C.tropicalis, C.glabrata, antifungal disk diffusion susceptibility test, Mueller – Hinton agar.