Fungal Infections; Species Distribution and Treatment Response

Introduction: Fungal infections are rapidly progressive, life threatening, difficult to recognize and resistant to antifungals. In recent years, these infections are frequently encountered. It is aimed to determine the fungal infections and the distribution of fungal species seen in our hospital, and the antifungal treatment response of the patients. Materials and Methods: Data collected from the medical records of the patients with fungal strains included demographic characteristics, underlying diseases, invasive procedures, treatment and outcome. The strains were identified through germ tube test, clamdiospor formation and a commercial kit labeled API 20C AUX. Antifungal susceptibility was investigated by microdilution and E test methods. Results: A total of 125 fungal strains isolated from the patients (61 female and 49 male) were evaluated. 37.3% of the patients included in our study were hospitalized in the anesthesiology-reanimation intensive care unit, 18.2% of them in the internal medicine unit, and 44.5% of them in other units. Of patients’ clinics, 24.5% was found to be consistent with candidemia and 75.5% with candiduria. The distribution of the strains isolated from both clinical samples is as follows: 59.2% (74/125) of the strains was Candida albicans, 15.2% (19/25) was Candida tropicalis, 12.8% (16/125) was Candida parapsilosis, 4.8% (6/125) was Candida krusei, 4% (5/125) was Trichosporon asahii, 1.6% (2/125) was Candida kefyr, 2.4% (3/125) was Candida glabrata, Candida lipolytica and Candida lusitaniae, each with one isolate. Antifungal treatment response rate was 89.5%. Conclusion: Our results show the importance of defining the fungal agents isolated at the level of species. It is also emphasized that clinical findings along with the fungal culture results and the characteristics of the underlying disease are of great importance in deciding how to treat fungal infections