The oral cavity can act as a reservoir of certain pathogens that can cause systemic infections. The periodontal pocket is an ecological niche appropriate for hosting microorganisms that could act as opportunistic pathogens. The ability of Staphylococcus spp and Candida spp to form a biofilm and live within certain niches allows them to develop mechanisms that increase persistence, such as the e...

Candida spp. are an important cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections. Currently, complete identification of yeasts with conventional methods takes several days. We report here the first evaluation of an extraction method associated with the Vitek MS matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry for direct identification of Candida species from positive blood c...

The presence of Candida spp. in the oral cavity was evaluated in 95 cancer patients (57 in-patients and 38 out-patients) and in 65 healthcare workers in Amman, Jordan. Candida carriage occurred in 72.6% of cancer patients and 33.8% of healthcare workers, with Candida albicans being the species most commonly recovered, followed by C. glabrata. In-patients were found to harbor Candida spp. at sig...

Candida spp. are recognized as a leading contributor to mortality and morbidity in patients with onco-hematological malignancies. The rates and risk factors for mycotic infections in pediatric oncology patients are undetermined, particularly for those treated at centers in developing countries. The objective of the present study was to prospectively evaluate the species stratification and antif...

Candida spp. are the most common cause of opportunistic fungal infections worldwide. Candida are generally a part of normal microbial flora of skin and mucous membrane in immunocompetent individuals but may cause severe systemic infections in critically ill patients with underlying disease such as diabetes mellitus, prolonged duration of stay in ICU, or other factors which may suppress the immu...

The adherence of four Candida species to human buccal epithelial cells (BECs) following treatment with the most commonly consumed dietary carbohydrates was investigated in vitro. Adhesion of C. albicans , C . tropicalis , C. glabrata and C. parapsilosis was significantly promoted by incubation in minimal medium containing a high concentration (500 mM) of fructose, galactose, glucose, maltose, s...

Terminalia catappa Linn bark is used to treat dysentery by various populations in Southeast Asian countries, and its leaves have also been used in traditional medicine to treat hepatitis in India and the Philippines. Here, the antifungal actions of crude hydro-alcoholic extract (TcHE) and fractions from T. catappa leaves were assessed via the agar diffusion and microdilution tests on Candida re...

Multiple-site colonization with Candida spp. is commonly recognized as a risk factor for invasive fungal infection in critically ill patients. We carried out a study to determine the relationship between Candida colonization and invasive infection in neurological patients admitted to an ICU. At admission (T0) and every three days for two weeks, different samples (pharynx swab, tracheal secretio...

Caspofungin is being used increasingly as therapy for invasive candidiasis. Prospective sentinel surveillance for emergence of in vitro resistance to caspofungin among invasive Candida spp. isolates is indicated. We determined the in vitro activity of caspofungin against 8,197 invasive (bloodstream or sterile-site) unique patient isolates of Candida collected from 91 medical centers worldwide f...

Over the past several decades there has been a significant increase in the number of fungal diseases. Although infections can occur in normal hosts, most of them are seen in patients who are immunosuppressed or immunocompromised such as those with AIDS or who have received transplants, corticoids or anticancer drugs [1]. Other predisposing factors responsible for yeast infections include overus...