Putative virulence factors of Candida species colonising asymptomatic pregnant Jordanian women

Objectives: Pregnant women are frequently exposed to yeast colonisation and infection compared to non-pregnant women. This study was undertaken to investigate carriage rates of Candida species and their virulence factors in high vaginal samples from asymptomatic pregnant women as a probable predisposing factor for neonatal candidiasis. Methods: High vaginal swabs were collected from 200 pregnant women from Al-Karak Governmental Hospital, Jordan from March to December 2018. Candida isolates were identified by their growth on CHROMagar Candida and Vitek2 automated system. Some virulence factors were determined. Results: Among 200 swabs tested, 67 (33.5%) yielded Candida isolates as follows: C. ablicans, 28 (41.8%), while non-albicans Candida (NAC) were 39 (58.2%) isolates (p=0.04). C. parapsilosis was the most prevailed NAC species isolated, 29 (74.4%) followed by C. tropicalis: 6 (15.4%) while C. glabrata and C. krusei, each represented 2 (5.1%). Among C. albicans isolates, 27 (96.4%), 18 (64.3%), and 24 (85.7%) compared to 24 (82.7%), 4 (13.8%), and 25 (86.2%) among C. parapsilosis were positive for proteinase, phospholipase, and haemolysin respectively. The protease activity was the highest detected (88.1% of Candida isolates) compared to other enzymes but did not reach statistical significance between Candida species (p=0.215). Phospholipase activity was significantly detected among C. albicans isolates compared to other species (p