Turk Hijyen ve Deneysel Biyoloji Dergisi, vol.70, no.4, pp.175-180, 2013 (Scopus)
Objective: Candida spp. are the most important pathogens in critically ill patients and the epidemiology is changing. While Candida albicans remains the predominant pathogen, the proportion of infection caused by other species of Candida continues to increase. In recent years, due to the increase in incidence of infections with non-albicans strains and the development of resistance to antifungals, identification of Candida strains to species level gained significant importance.The aim of this study was to identify Candida strain isolated from various clinical specimens. Method: January 2011 to June 2012, Candida strains were isolated from 3905 clinical specimen. In identification of Candida species that were isolated, germ tube test, growth in Cornmeal-Tween 80 agar and formation of clamydospore, presence of pseudohyphae, carbonhytrate fermentation and assimilation tests, and the test of nitrate were studied Results: Finally 1122 Candida strains were isolated from 3905 various clinical specimens. The distribution of clinical specimens were as fallows: 556 from bronchoalveolar lavage (49.6%), 271 from sputum (24.2%), 114 from blood (10.2%), 51 vaginal swabs (4.6%), 50 from urine (4.4%), 30 from tissue (2.6%), 22 from endotracheal tracheal aspirate (ETA) (1.9%), nine from pleural mai (0.80%), six from peritoneal fluid (0.53%), four from gastric fluid(0.35%),three from stool(0.28%),two from abscess (0.18%),three from nail (0.26%), one from cerebrospinal fluid (0.10%). From these clinical samples 848 C. albicans (75.6%), 143 C. glabrata (12.8%), 40 C. parapsilosis, (3.57%), 33 C. krusei (2.94%), 33 C. kefyr (2.94%), 19 C. tropicalis (1.7%) were isolated. Other strains were identified as C. lusitania, C. lipolytica, C. norvegensis, C. pelliculosa ve C. zeylanoides Conclusion: It was concluded that C.albicans has still been the most frequent species among Candida isolates of in our hospital; however, the incidence of non-albicans species have increased.