Retrospective assessment of fungal pathogens isolated from various clinical samples in a tertiary care hospital in Turkey: A cross-sectional study

Year 2021, Volume: 5 Issue: 4, 362 - 366, 01.04.2021

Meryem Çolak , Nergis Aşgın

https://doi.org/10.28982/josam.910783

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Background/Aim: Fungal infections are an emerging health problem worldwide and can be caused by a broad variety of fungal pathogens. This study aimed to retrospectively determine and evaluate the fungal pathogens isolated from various clinical samples in our laboratory.
Methods: A total of 996 clinical samples obtained from 803 patients who visited Karabuk University Training and Research Hospital microbiology laboratory between January 2019-December 2020 were included in this study. The BD-Phoenix 100 automated microbiology system was used for the identification of strains.
Results: Among 803 patients, 52.4% were female and 47.5% were male. The median age of the patients was 76 (0-99) years. Urine (49%) and blood (27.6%) samples were evaluated the most. The most common fungal pathogen was Candida albicans (48.7%), followed by Candida tropicalis (16.5%), Candida parapsilosis (10.6%), Candida glabrata (9%), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (5.7%), and Trichosporon species (3.1%). While more than 90% of fungal strains were isolated from the inpatients, 9% were isolated from the outpatients (p<0.05). Among all, 69.4% of strains were isolated from the intensive care units, followed by internal medicine (5.5%), palliative care (5%), urology (3.6%), and orthopedics and traumatology clinics (2.1%).
Conclusion: Although C. albicans is still the most common fungal pathogen, the incidences of non-albicans candida and other fungi are increasing worldwide. Therefore, each country should figure out its local fungal profile and update its antifungal treatment protocols accordingly.

Keywords

Fungal pathogen, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Trichosporon asahii

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