Prevalence of Candida blood stream infections among children in tertiary care hospital: detection of species and antifungal susceptibility

Abstract

Sahar Mohammed Khairat,1 Amal Mohammed Sayed,1 Mohammad Nabih,2 Noha Salah Soliman,3 Yosra Mohammed Hassan31Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt; 2Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt; 3Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, EgyptBackground: Of all blood stream infections (BSI), candidaemia poses the greatest threat with a high fatality rate among children. There has been an increase in the number of reports of non-C. albicans species and antifungal resistance has progressively emerge.Aim: The present study aimed to demonstrate the prevalence of candidaemia among children and to characterize the involved species and their susceptibility to antifungal agents.Methodology: Microbes were isolated from blood samples and identified via standard microbiological procedures. Chromogenic media was used to characterize the Candida species. The susceptibility of the isolates to the antifungal agents; caspofungin, amphotericin, itraconazole, and fluconazole was determined with the E-test.Statistical methods: The data were analysed with Statistical Package for the Social Science SPSS; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) version 15 for Microsoft Windows. Comparisons between the study groups were performed using the Chi square (χ2) test. p-values less than 0.05 were considered significant.Results: Candidaemia accounted for 17.3% of all BSIs. C. albicans and non-C. albicans species accounted for 36% and 64% of the cases of candidaemia, respectively. Caspofungin, amphotericin, itraconazole, and fluconazole antifungals had activities of 99%, 97%, 73% and 64%, respectively. In total, 64% of patients with candiaemia died.Conclusion: The prevalence of candidaemia was high, the fatality rate was alarming and non-C. albicans species were predominant. Fluconazole was the least effective of the tested antifungal agents owing to the high level of resistance.Keywords: candidaemia, chromogenic agar, antifungal

Keywords

• Candidaemia Chromogenic agar Antifungal