Epidemiological study on vaginal Candida glabrata isolated from pregnant women

Candida glabrata was the second most frequently occurring fungus and the dominant non-albicans species caused candidal vulvovaginitis. We used a randomly amplified polymorphic DNA method to compare genotypes of vaginal C. glabrata from pregnant women with or without clinical symptoms. The aims of our study were to define the prevalence of C. glabrata during pregnancy and identify the relationship between genotypes of C. glabrata and the clinical symptoms. A total of 50 C. glabrata strains were isolated, identified, and genotyped from 628 pregnant women. The prevalence of C. glabrata during pregnancy was 7.96% (50/628). C. glabrata was detected in 25.12% (50/199) of all Candida isolates. 17 unique genotypes were generated by RAPD and the mean SAB value of all isolates was 0.891+/-0.002. All results show that the genotypes of vaginal C. glabrata isolated from pregnant women were highly similar but non-identical. Compared to those of symptomatic patients in the same trimester and asymptomatic patients in different trimesters, C. glabrata isolated from the asymptomatic patients in the first trimester had more genotypical similarities. Genotypical similarities of C. glabrata were related to clinical signs and symptoms, to some degree.