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Abstract

The objective of this study was to characterize the epidemiology of candidemia in cancer patients in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An 18-month survey of fungemia in patients with cancer was undertaken in three Hospitals in Rio de Janeiro. Forty-three episodes of candidemia were identified in 43 patients, 43 of which were episodes of candidemia; in ten case the strains were not available for further identification of species and were excluded from this analysis. The overall distribution of fungi causing fungemia was: Candida albicans (5), Candida tropicalis (16), Candida parapsilosis (6), Candida guilliermondii (4), Candida lusitaniae (1) and Candida stellatoidea (1). Antifungal prophylaxis had been administered before the episode of fungemia in only six patients (18.2%): oral itraconazole in three patients and oral nistatin, low dose intravenous amphotericin B and oral fluconazole in one patient each. There was no difference in the presence of risk factors, clinical characteristics or in the outcome between albicans and non-albicans species, nor between Candida tropicalis and other non-albicans species. There was a clear predominance of non-albicans species, regardless of the underlying disease, antifungal prophylaxis or the presence of neutropenia.

Insights into Candida tropicalis nosocomial infections and virulence factors

“…Infections caused by C. tropicalis can be acquired endogenously, when the individual is already colonized by the microorganism as part of the normal flora, but under altered conditions yeasts may be translocated and spread through the gastrointestinal tract to different anatomic sites, causing infection [8,12,15]. The exogenous infection can occur through contact of the hands of health professionals with patients or through catheters, implantable prostheses, as well as parenteral solutions, which were previously contaminated [15,22,34,35].…”