Abstract
In this prospective and monocentric study, we investigated the performance of a commercialized real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test system for the specific detection of DNA from Candida albicans, C. dubliniensis, C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. lusitaniae, C. parapsilosis, and C. tropicalis in human milk samples of patients suspicious of mammary candidiasis. For this purpose, 43 breast-feeding women with characteristic symptoms of mammary candidiasis and 40 asymptomatic controls were enrolled. By culture, Candida spp. were detected in 8.8 % (4/46) and 9.3 % (4/43) of patient and control samples, respectively. Candida albicans (2/46), C. parapsilosis (1/46), and C. guilliermondii (1/46) were present in patient samples, and C. lusitaniae (3/43) and C. guilliermondii (1/43) were present in the controls. After RT-PCR was applied, Candida spp. were found to be present in 67.4 % (31/46) and 79.1 % (34/43) of patient and control samples investigated, respectively. PCR detection of C. albicans and C. parapsilosis revealed only a low sensitivity and specificity of 67.4 % and 41.9 %, respectively. Our data do not support the use of Candida RT-PCR for sensitive and specific diagnosis of mammary candidiasis.
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Austrian Science Fund ZFW012530.
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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Mutschlechner, W., Karall, D., Hartmann, C. et al. Mammary candidiasis: molecular-based detection of Candida species in human milk samples. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 35, 1309–1313 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-016-2666-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-016-2666-0