Karyotyping of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata from patients with Candida sepsis

The aim of this study was to determine the relatedness of Candida strains from patients suffering from Candida septicaemia by typing of Candida isolates from blood cultures and different body sites by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE using a contour-clamped homogenous electric field, CHEF). We studied 17 isolates of Candida albicans and 10 isolates of Candida glabrata from six patients. Four patients suffered from a C. albicans septicaemia, one patient from a C. glabrata septicaemia, and one patient had a mixed septicaemia with C. albicans and C. glabrata. Eight isolates from blood cultures were compared with 19 isolates of other sites (stool six, urine four, genital swab four, tip of central venous catheter three, tracheal secretion one, sputum one). PFGE typing resulted in 10 different patterns, four with C. albicans and six with C. glabrata. Five of the six patients had strains of identical PFGE patterns in the blood and at other sites. Seven isolates of a 58-year-old female with a C. glabrata septicaemia fell into five different PFGE patterns. However, they showed minor differences only, which may be due to chromosomal rearrangements within a single strain. Thus it appears, that the colonizing Candida strains were identical to the circulating strains in the bloodstream in at least five of six patients.