Fungal profile and antifungal susceptibility pattern in patients with oral candidiasis

Oral candidiasis is a common fungal infection, affecting the oral mucosa. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology and antifungal susceptibility of Candida species isolated from the oral cavity of patients affected by oral candidiasis. Oral swabs were taken from 34 patients and were inoculated on to Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA). The yeasts were preliminarily evaluated according to the growth (human serum) germ tube, chlamydospore formation, reproduction at 45 degrees C and colony characteristics on SDA medium. The commercial method Phoenix (Becton Dickinson, USA) was used for identification. Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) reference M27-A3 microdilution method was applied for fluconazole (FLC), voriconazole (VRC), amphotericin B (AMB), ketoconazole (KTC), nystatin (NYT) antifungal susceptibility testing. A total of 34 Candida species were isolated and these species were identified as follows: 14 (41.2%) Candida albicans, 8 (23.5%) Candida glabrata, 8 (23.5%) Candida parapsilosis, 4 (11.8 %) Candida tropicalis. The geometric mean (GM) of the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for FLC, NYT, VRC, AMB, and KTC was 13.09 μg/mL, 4.77 μg/mL, 0.23 μg/mL, 0.20 μg/mL, 0.08 μg/mL, respectively. The most commonly isolated species was C. albicans. KTZ showed the lowest MIC value. NYT MIC values for non-albicans species were higher than for C. albicans ones.