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Prevalence of fluconazole‐resistant strains of Candida albicans in otherwise healthy outpatients
Author(s) -
HaberlandCarrodeguas Christel,
Allen Carl M.,
Beck F. Michael,
Buesching William J.,
Koletar Susan L.,
Sundstrom Paula
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of oral pathology and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0714
pISSN - 0904-2512
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0714.2002.310207.x
Subject(s) - fluconazole , candida albicans , corpus albicans , microbiology and biotechnology , mycosis , regimen , population , biology , in vitro , medicine , antifungal , immunology , environmental health , biochemistry
Background: In contrast to the immunosupressed patient population, the prevalence of fluconazole‐resistant strains of Candida albicans among healthy individuals has not been extensively studied. Methods: Candida species were cultured form 50 healthy outpatients with clinical signs of oral candidiasis. Following one week of the recommended fluconazole regimen, post‐treatment cultures were obtained. Both pre‐ and post‐treatment yeasts were identified and in vitro susceptibility testing was performed using the NCCLS M‐27A method. Strains were further differentiated using established cDNA probes. Results: Forty‐four patients (88%) had positive C.albicans cultures prior to treatment. Antifungal susceptibility testing of these strains demonstrated no in vitro resistance to fluconazole. At post‐treatment evaluation, eight patients (18%) had persistent signs of infection and 10 patients (23%) had positive Candida sp. cultures despite no clinical signs of infection. DNA analysis confirmed that the same C. albicans strain was present both in the pre‐treatment and the post‐treatment cultures. Conclusions: Our results showed that the presence of fluconazole‐resistant strains of C.albicans does not appear to be prevalent among healthy outpatients furthermore, in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing does not always predict successful therapy in these patients.