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Distribution and drug susceptibilities of Candida species causing candidemia from a medical center in central Taiwan

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy

Abstract

Invasive fungal infections have increased significantly in the past few decades because of the increase in high-risk populations. To investigate the distribution and drug susceptibilities of such infections, we analyzed all 152 Candida isolates causing candidemia from 2004 to 2006 at the China Medical University Hospital, a medical center in central Taiwan. Candida albicans was the most common species, accounting for 52.6 % of the isolates, followed by C. tropicalis (19.7 %), C. parapsilosis (14.5 %), C. glabrata (8.6 %), C. guilliermondii (3.9 %), and C. pelliculosa (0.7 %). All isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B, anidulafungin, micafungin, and voriconazole according to minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) after a 24-h incubation; 0.7 %, 6.6 %, and 7.9 % of isolates were resistant to amphotericin B, fluconazole, and voriconazole, respectively, after 48-h incubation. Both C. albicans and C. parapsilosis had high degrees of agreement for azoles between 24- and 48-h incubation periods, whereas C. glabrata (38.5–46.2 %) and C. tropicalis (56.7–63.3 %) did not. The majority of the isolates with high azole MICs displayed a trailing growth phenotype. Hence, the MICs of different drugs after 24-h incubation may be considered for prognosis of candidemia.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Bristol Myers Squibb for providing amphotericin B, Pfizer for providing anidulafungin, fluconazole, and voriconazole, and Astellas Pharms for micafungin. This work was supported in part by grants 00A1-ID-PP-04-014 and 01A1-IV-PP-04-014 from National Health Research Institutes.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Author notes

  1. Te-Pin Chang

    Present address: Botanical Garden Division, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Taipei, Taiwan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institutes of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, 35 Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli, 350, Taiwan

    Te-Pin Chang, Pai-Chang Lo, An-Huei Wang & Hsiu-Jung Lo

  2. Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    Mao-Wang Ho

  3. Department of Biological Science and Technology, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Yun-Liang Yang

  4. Institute of Molecular Medicine and Bioengineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Yun-Liang Yang

  5. Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, IPHS, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan

    Pei-Sheng Lin

  6. School of Dentistry, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Hsiu-Jung Lo

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  1. Te-Pin Chang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hsiu-Jung Lo.

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T.-P. Chang and M.-W. Ho contributed equally to this article.

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Chang, TP., Ho, MW., Yang, YL. et al. Distribution and drug susceptibilities of Candida species causing candidemia from a medical center in central Taiwan. J Infect Chemother 19, 1065–1071 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10156-013-0623-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10156-013-0623-8

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