Prevalence and in vitro Antifungal Susceptibility Pattern of Candida species in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Candida is an opportunistic pathogen commonly found in hospital settings. During recent years increase in the non albican species of Candida and their resistance against treatment of choice has been observed. The aim of this research was to study the prevalence and antifungal susceptibility pattern of Candida species from different hospital units. A total of 303 samples were included in this study. Candida species, initially identified by colony morphology, were further characterized by germ tube test, morphology on cornmeal as well as Chromagar and sugar assimilation profiles. Antifungal susceptibility pattern was checked by disc diffusion method (CLSI M44-A2). Five species of Candida i.e., C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis and C. krusei were isolated. Candida albicans was dominant (55.5%) over non albican species (45.5%). Candidiasis was more common in age group of 2140 years and most of the isolates were reported from urine. Drug resistance was more common in non-albican species of Candida. Overall sensitivity rate of amphotericin B, fluconazole and caspofungin was 100%, 87.4% and 97.6%, respectively. The varied susceptibility of different Candida species proposes that proper identification and antifungal susceptibility testing must be done for efficacious treatment. Amphotericin still remains the drug of choice for candidiasis.