Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: September | Volume: 6 | Issue: 9 | Pages: 115-122
Isolation, Identification and Anti-Fungal Susceptibility Testing of Candida Species from Various Clinical Specimens of ICU Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Bhagalpur, Bihar
Mukesh Azad1, Suprakash Das1, Amit Kumar2
1Senior Resident, Dept of Microbiology, AIIMS, Patna.
2Associate Professor and H.O.D, Dept of Microbiology, JLNMCH, Bhagalpur.
Corresponding Author: Suprakash Das
ABSTRACT
Background: Candida spp. are the normal flora of human skin and mucosa and there is an increasing incidence of candida infections among hospitalized patients mostly the immune-suppressed individuals. Candida albicans predominantly cause candidiasis responsible for about 60-80% of infections. Emergence of non-albicans species in increasing numbers as potential pathogens has been noted during last decades. Species level identification of Candida spp. is clinically important due to the fact that they differ in virulence and antifungal susceptibility. Rapid identification of Candida spp. can also help with early management of antifungal therapy. Not much study have been done about the C. albicans and NAC infections from Bihar, so we aimed this study to know the prevalence and anti-fungal susceptibility of fungal isolates from ICU patients.
Methods: This prospective analytical study was conducted in the department of microbiology of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Bhagalpur during the period of June 2017 to June 2018 to evaluate anti-fungal susceptibility of fungal isolates from 100 patients admitted in different ICUs.
Results: A total of100 samples were received from different ICUs during the study period, of which 25 (25%) were positive for fungal growth. The prevalence of Candida and NAC isolates are 20 % and 5 % respectively.
Conclusion: We conclude that the Candida spp. are an important opportunistic pathogen in ICU settings over the 1 year study period and constant monitoring of the changing epidemiology and resistance pattern of Candida species is needed to guide the clinicians.
Key words: Candida, Non-albicans candida (NAC), ICUs, Fluconazole, Amphotericin-B.
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