[Determination of morphotypes of Candida spp. in vaginal smears]

Samples of vaginal smears were taken from 100 patients suspected of vaginal candidiasis that attended the Microbiology Laboratory of "Freyre de Andrade" Clinical and Surgical Hospital, in Havana City. These samples were cultivated in Sabouraud agar and Sabouraud triphenyltetrazolium agar (STA). In 45 % of the samples it was observed growth of the yeast-shaped colonies, where Candida albicans (51.1 %) and C. glabrata (22.2 %) were the most frequently isolated species. It was proved that STA allowed to differentiate the morphotypes of the yeast species and it was observed that most of the species presented more than one morphotype with the predominance of flat light pink colonies without mycelial halo in C. albicans, C. glabrata did not grow in it. This phenotypic typing in STA will permit to approach epidemiological studies in a future.