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Among 234 isolates comprising 26 different Candida species colonizing the oropharynx of 181 (54.3% of 399 surveyed) HIV-infected outpatients, 27 (11.7%) were fluconazole resistant. Antibacterial treatment was associated with increased rates of yeast colonization, while antiretroviral therapy and pneumococcal vaccination protected patients from yeast colonization.

The antifungal activities of the known antimicrobial peptide, P-113, as well as a new type of Trp-rich peptide, Ac-KWRRWVRWI-NH(2), Pac-525, and its modified peptide, D-Nal-Pac-525, were determined using the broth microdilution method in three different media. All peptides had similar activities against yeast pathogens in low-salt LYM media. However, only D-Nal-Pac-525 retained its antifungal activity in the media containing high concentrations of salt. Hence, D-Nal-Pac-525 has the potential of becoming a promising antifungal agent, especially for fungal pathogens with intrinsic resistance to fluconazole.

Recently, we reported that diploid sequence type (DST) 140 was a predominant type of Candida tropicalis among isolates with fluconazole minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) >or=64 microg/ml collected in the Taiwan Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance of Yeasts (TSARY) in 1999. To determine if DST140 persists in Taiwan, we have used multilocus sequence typing to characterize the genetic profiles of 31 resistant isolates (MICs >or=64 microg/ml), together with 19 susceptible isolates (MICs

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