A Tale of Candidal Infections from a Tertiary Care Centre

This study was aimed to probe the prevalence of Candida species in a tertiary care hospital, Kashmir, India.4200 samples were directed to the microbiology lab for evaluation including urine (47 %), blood (23.8 %), sputum (7.9 %), pus (4.7 %), tracheal fluid (4.7 %), pleural fluid (3.3 %), CSF (2.6 %), vaginal swab (0.7 %), BAL (0.64 %) and oral swab (0.11 %). Candida species were isolated from 151 clinical samples of which Candida species were isolated from 36 (23.8 %) immunocompromised patient samples. Out of 151 positive samples, Candia species was mainly isolated from urine samples (54.3 %) followed by sputum (26.6 %) and vaginal swabs (7 %). Candida species isolated from 151 samples showing growth of Candida included Candida albicans 101 (66.8 %) and non-albicans Candida species 50 (33.1 %). Among non-albicans Candida species Candida parapsilosis (36 %) was the commonest isolated followed by Candida glabrata (26 %) and Candida tropicalis (16 %). isolated followed by For the isolated of Candida species Sabouraud dextrose agar with Chloramphenicol was used and for the identification of different Candida species HiCrome agar, germ tube test, Morphology on corn meal agar, Carbohydrate assimilation tests were performed.