Abstract

SAUL-GARCIA, Yotsabeth; HUMBRIA-GARCIA, Leyla  and  HERNANDEZ-VALLES, Rosaura. Species distribution and antifungal susceptibility of Candida spp. causing superficial mycosis. Coro, Falcon state, Venezuela. . Invest. clín [online]. 2015, vol.56, n.3, pp.276-283. ISSN 0535-5133.

Candida species other than C. albicans are often described as causative agents of superficial mycosis and are more resistant to treatment with azoles. In order to determine the distribution of species and in vitro antifungal susceptibility of Candida spp., one ambispective study, which analyzed 18 yeast isolates obtained from samples from patients diagnosed with superficial mycosis, was performed. Taxonomic identification was performed by macroscopic visualization of the growth characteristics in chromogenic agar and by conventional methods. The susceptibility to fluconazole and voriconazole was evaluated by the disc diffusion method. Most of the isolates (88.8%), came from nail samples. C. parapsilosis was the most common species, followed by C. tropicalis, C. albicans and C. krusei, which confirmed the prevalence of non-albicans species as a cause of superficial mycoses. The pattern of susceptibility to fluconazole and voriconazole was similar: all isolates of C. parapsilosis and C. albicans were susceptible, while 83.3% of C. tropicalis showed sensitivity to both antifungals. C. krusei, fluconazole-resistant species showed intermediate susceptibility to voriconazole. The use of chromogenic agar allowed to detect mixed infections in nail samples, involving Candida spp. and C. tropicalis in one case, the latter with resistance to both fluconazole and voriconazole. The results demonstrate the importance of species identification and susceptibility testing to avoid therapeutic failures in superficial mycoses.

Keywords : Superficial mycosis; Candida spp; fluconazole; voriconazole.

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