Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Diagnose

Respiratory Tract Candidiasis in a Tertiary Health Care Unit in Northern India

Abstract

Asma Husein Roohani, Nazish Fatima, Haris Manzoor Khan, Anees Akhtar and Mohammad Shamim

Respiratory and systemic mycoses are globally emerging as problems of increasing importance in infectious diseases. Among the various opportunistic infections, respiratory infections account for up to 70% of AIDS defining illnesses 65 (43.3%) samples were positive for fungal elements on culture. Of 65 isolates, 33 (50.7%) were yeasts and 32 (49.2%) were molds. Amongst the yeast isolates, 21 (63.6%) and 12 (36.3%) were collected from immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients respectively. 14 (42.4%) isolates were of C. albicans; 64.3% from the immunocompromised and 35.7% from the immunocompetent. The remaining 19 (57.5%) isolates of Candida were non albicans candida (NAC). Amongst the 32 (49.2%) mold isolates, 30 (93.7%) were found to be Aspergillus species. A. fumigatus was the most common (53.1%) followed by A. flavus (31.2%) and A. niger (9.3%). Candida isolated from the respiratory secretions does not always indicate invasive candidiasis nor does it indicate the need for antifungal therapy.