Prevalence and antifungal susceptibility of Candida albicans and its related species Candida dubliniensis and Candida africana isolated from vulvovaginal samples in a hospital of Argentina

THEILL, LAURA; DUDIUK, CATIANA; MORANO, SUSANA; GAMARRA, SOLEDAD; NARDIN, MARÍA ELENA; MENDEZ, EMILCE; GARCIA, GUILLERMO

REVISTA ARGENTINA DE MICROBIOLOGíA

ASOCIACION ARGENTINA MICROBIOLOGIA

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2016 vol. 48 p. 43 - 49

0325-7541

within the Candida albicans species complex; however, phylogenetic analyses suggestedthat it is an unusual variety of C. albicans. The prevalence of C. albicans-related species(Candida dubliniensis and C. africana) as vulvovaginal pathogens is not known in Argentina.Moreover, data on antifungal susceptibility of isolates causing vulvovaginal candidiasis is scarce.The aims of this study were to establish the prevalence of C. dubliniensis and C. africana in vaginalsamples and to evaluate the antifungal susceptibilities of vaginal C. albicans species complexstrains. We used a molecular-based method coupled with a new pooled DNA extraction methodologyto differentiate C. dubliniensis and C. africana in a collection of 287 strains originallyidentified as C. albicans isolated from an Argentinian hospital during 2013. Antifungal susceptibilitiesto fluconazole, clotrimazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, nystatin, amphotericin B andterbinafine were evaluated by using the CLSI M27-A3 and M27-S4 documents. Of the 287 isolates,4 C. dubliniensis and one C. africana strains (1.39% and 0.35% prevalence, respectively) wereidentified. This is the first description of C. africana in Argentina and its identification was confirmedby sequencing the ITS2 region and the hwp1 gene. C. dubliniensis and C. africana strainsshowed very low MIC values for all the tested antifungals. Fluconazole-reduced-susceptibilityand azole cross-resistance were observed in 3.55% and 1.41% of the C. albicans isolates, respectively.These results demonstrate that antifungal resistance is still a rare phenomenon in thiskind of isolates.