Colony variation in Candida glabrata isolates from patients with vaginitis

The ability of Candida glabrata to switch between different colony phenotypes on a Sabouraud's-chloramphenicol agar supplemented with phloxine B was assessed in 14 C. glabrata isolates. Three phenotypes (pale pink smooth, dark pink smooth and fuchsia petite) were observed in vitro and two of them (pale pink smooth and dark pink smooth) in fresh clinical isolates plated directly from vaginal specimens from patients with C. glabrata vaginitis and patients colonized with C. glabrata. The pale pink smooth phenotype was the predominant and the remaining phenotypes can be derived from it. No changes in susceptibility to different antifungals were observed in the pale pink smooth, dark pink smooth, fuchsia petite phenotypes but they showed differences in cell wall antigens.