Candida isolates in tertiary hospitals in northeastern Brazil

Candida is an opportunistic pathogen that affects highrisk patients who are either immunocompromised or critically ill and is associated with almost 80% of all nosocomial fungal infections, representing the major cause of fungemia with high mortality rates (40%). Candida albicans is the main cause of candidemia and among the non-albicans species C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata and C. tropicalis are the most frequent agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution of Candida species in two tertiary hospitals in Recife, Northeastern Brazil. It began by surveying all positive Candida cultures processed by the microbiology laboratory from September 2003 to September 2006. The cultures, originated from various types of biological material (blood, urine, tracheal, catheter and others), were processed by Vitec® system (Biomerieux SA, France). A total of 1.279 (hospital A: 837; hospital B: 442) sample isolates were positive for Candida. The most frequent species in both hospitals were: C. albicans (367), C. tropicalis (363), C. parapsilosis (147), C. glabrata (81), C. krusei (30) and C. guillermondii (14). The isolates were obtained from 746 hospitalized patients. A total of 221 positive hemocultures were detected in 166 different patients in both hospitals, and 113 (68.1%) of these patients with positive hemocultures presented Candida in other body sites.This study shows thatCandida non-albicans was the main isolated agent and evidences the importante of C. tropicalis in nosocomial fungal infections. Candida é um patógeno oportunista que afeta pacientes de alto risco que estão também imunocomprometidos ou criticamente doentes, estando associada a quase 80% de todos os casos de infecções fúngicas nosocomiais, representando a maior causa de fungemia com alta taxa de mortalidade (40%). Candida albicans é a principal causa de candidemia e dentre as espécies não-albicans a C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata e C. tropicalis são os agentes mais frequentes. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a distribuição das espécies de Candida em dois hospitais terciários no Recife, nordeste do Brasil. Foi realizado um levantamento de todas as culturas positivas para Candida processadas pelo laboratório de microbiologia de Setembro de 2003 a Setembro de 2006. Todas as culturas originadas de vários tipos de material biológico (sangue, urina, traquéia, catéter e outros) foram processadas pelo sistema Vitec® (Biomerrieux SA, France). Um total de 1.279 amostras (hospital A:837; hos