Candidiasis as major fungal infection among cancer patients

Introduction: Candidiasis is an important complication in neutropenic patients and thoseundergoing treatment for cancer and represents significant cause of morbidity and mortalityamong high risk individuals. Candida infections may present as oropharyngeal candidiasis,esophagitis, candidemia, acute or chronic disseminated candidiasis among this population. The aimof the present study was to identify Candida species isolated from the different locations of body inneutropenic patients in compare with the control group.Materials and Methods: From March 2014 to August 2015, total of 309 neutropenic patientswith suspected candidiasis from two university hospitals were included in the present study. Allspecimens were examined by direct microscopic examination, culture, and identified by Polymerasechain reaction (PCR)-Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) technique.Results: Twenty-two out of 309 patients had candidiasis (7.1%). Age range of patients was between23 and 66 years (mean age, 44.5 years). Male to female ratio was 1/1. Colorectal cancer and acutemyeloid leukemia (AML) were the most common cancers accounted for 50% of all cases. Cancerpatients included 63.6% with organ and 36.4% with hematological malignancies. Clinicalspecimens were obtained from urine (59.1%), blood (18.2%), skin lesion (13.6%), soft tissueabscess (4.5%), and abdominal abscess (4.5%). The patients had been hospitalized in haematologyward (59.1%), and ICU (40.9%). Candida albicans was the most prevalent species (50%) followedby C. glabrata (36.3%), and C. tropicalis (13.6%).Conclusion: Since candidiasis is connected with high morbidity and mortality rate amongneutropenic patients, and emerging of antifungal resistance among Candida isolates,epidemiological data and susceptibility patterns of colonized Candida species may be useful forclinicians to select the best therapeutic choice for the management of this fungal infection amonghigh-risk cases.