Abstract:

Objective: In this study it was aimed to evaluate the distribution of Candida species and their antifungal susceptibility profiles in Kocaeli University Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey. Methods: A retrospective study on the distribution of Candida species and antifungal susceptibility profile were conducted from January 2017 to December 2021 in our laboratory. Different clinical samples collected were cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar and incubated for an appropriate time. Candida spp. were identification by MALDI-TOF MS. And their antifungal susceptibility profile were determined by the VITEK 2 Compact system (BioMérieux, France). Results: Totally 1667 clinical samples isolated from 1046 patients were included in this study. Of Clinical samples, 83.4% were from adults (≥ 18years) and 16.6% from pediatric group (< 18 years). Among all isolates, 1072 (64.3%) were C. albicans and 596 (35.7%) were non albicans Candida (NAC) species. C. albicans was mostly isolated from adults, whereas C. parapsilosis was mostly isolated from pediatric group. Regardless of Candida species identified, 88.7% were susceptible and 9.3% were resistant to fluconazole. The highest fluconazole resistance rate (25.4%) was observed in C. parapsilosis isolated from all departments. Voriconazole resistance ratio was 4.9%. The susceptibility rate of caspofungin and micafungin were 94.7% and 96%, respectively. The resistance rates of flucytosine and amphotericin B were 1.4% and 4.5%, respectively. Conclusion: In present study, the most common NAC species was determined as C. parapsilosis. The high prevalence and high fluconazole resistance of C. parapsilosis in our hospital may demonstrate that empirical fluconazole treatment is debatable.

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