Prevalence of Candida yeasts in oral samples from children with AIDS and children exposed and not exposed to HIV served by SUS in the state of Bahia, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Candida albicans and non-albicans yeast species isolated from oral samples of children with AIDS and of children exposed and not exposed to HIVduring pregnancy and served by the public health system in a county located in the interior of the state of Bahia, Brazil. METHODS: Saliva samples from 50 children aged between 2 and 12 years treated by SUS (group I = control group, group II = group exposed to HIV without seroconversion, and group III = AIDS carriers) were collected, seeded in Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol, and fungal cultures were grown at 35 ± 2° C for 24 hours. Three isolated colonies were randomly selected from each individual plaque for identification using the API20 AUX Biomerieux® method. RESULTS: The most frequent fungal species in samples from children not exposed to HIV, exposed to HIV, and AIDS carriers was Candida albicans (48.80%, 25.64%, and 58.13%, respectively). Species of Candida non-albicans were also isolated from all groups studied. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the higher prevalence of Candida albicans in these groups, non-albicans species represented a significant percentage of Candida isolates.