Low prevalence of antifungal resistant Candida africana, in the C. albicans complex causing vulvovaginal candidiasis

Abstract

The Candida (C.) albicans complex includes C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, C. stellatoidea, and C. africana, with the last mentioned as an important emerging agent of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC). The aim of the study was to identify C. africana and C. dubliniensis and assess their drug susceptibility in vaginitis. One-hundred Candida isolates of the C. albicans complex from women diagnosed with vaginitis and from vaginal samples in the culture collection of a medical mycology laboratory were examined. Species of the C. albicans complex were identified with conventional and molecular methods using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for amplification and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, PCR for partial amplification of hyphal wall protein 1 (HWP1) gene and duplex PCR. The effects of antifungal drugs were evaluated according to standard broth microdilution protocols.Ninety-seven C. albicans (97%) and three C. africana (3%) isolates were identified. Results of susceptibility testing revealed one isolate of C. africana to be resistant to both clotrimazole and fluconazole, and one showed reduced susceptibility to itraconazole.Identification of Candida species especially C. africana in vaginitis is crucial, there are varying levels of resistance to antifungal drugs.

<em>Candida africana</em> and <em>Candida dubliniensis</em> as causes of pediatric candiduria: A study using <em>HWP1</em> gene size polymorphism

“…Contrary to our findings, other studies that attempted to identify the cryptic species of C. albicans complex were able to identify, in addition to C. albicans , only C. africana [10] , [16] , [28] or C. dubliniensis [11] , [27] . Interestingly, Gumral et al , evaluated vaginal Candida isolates using HWP1 gene polymorphism and found neither C. dubliniensis nor C. africana among the C .…”

“…We found in our investigation that C. africana has a higher isolation rate (5.13%) than the C. dubliniensis (0.64%). This result corroborates the findings reported in Iran-where the frequency C. africana (3%) and C. dubliniensis (0%) was reported among 100 vaginal isolates of C. albicans species complex [10] –and a multicenter study that reported a higher frequency of C. africana (7.2%) than C. dubliniensis (2.9%), among Candida isolates recovered from 498 clinical specimens originated from various patient groups [26] . However, the higher isolation rate of C. dubliniensis over C. africana is being reported from other studies [9] , [13] , [19] , [20] .…”

“…The ‘ C. albicans complex’ is a group of opportunistic fungal pathogens responsible for more than 50% of candidiasis [1] , [7] . Species of this group are more often involved in oral and vaginal human infections [9] , [10] , [12] , [19] . However, infections from other body sites such as respiratory tracts, urinary tracts, wounds, and skin, have been reported [12] , [13] , [20] , [21] .…”

Distribution, antifungal susceptibility pattern and intra-Candida albicans species complex prevalence of Candida africana: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…However, there are reports in which isolates of C . africana have been categorized as resistant to itraconazole, 5-flucytosine, terbinafine, fluconazole, and clotrimazole [ 28 , 33 , 54 ]. By applying the clinical breakpoints for C .…”

Counting and identification of molds and yeasts in dry salted shrimp commercialized in Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil

“…A previous study recorded the presence of some yeast species in shrimp M. amazonicum, concluding that the genus may be part of the microbiota of crustaceans (Brilhante et al, 2014). Infection by Candida in humans can result in mucocutaneous and systemic diseases in immunosuppressed hosts when the infectious load is high, despite being considered a commensal of the skin and gastrointestinal tract (Maranhão et al, 2019;Farahyar et al, 2020).…”