Retrospective survey of candidaemia in hospitalized patients and molecular investigation of a suspected outbreak

1,3 Mycology Reference Centre 1 and Department of Microbiology 3 , The General Infirmary at Leeds, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK 2 School of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Correspondence Richard C. Barton Richard.Barton{at}leedsth.nhs.uk Received September 16, 2004 Accepted December 8, 2004 Episodes of candida infection at a teaching hospital were investigated. During a 3-year period from 1998 to 2000, there were 53 cases of candidaemia. Candida albicans (64.2 %) was the most common causative species, followed by Candida glabrata (17.0 %) and Candida parapsilosis (15.1 %). Molecular analysis of a cluster of eight infections from a single unit was performed using Southern blotting with Ca3 probe hybridization. This showed that the patients were each infected by unrelated strains of C. albicans . On occasion, isolates were found to be closely related within individual patients. Following Southern blot analysis, it was concluded that the infections were not part of an outbreak caused by a single, epidemic strain.