Detection of virulence factors and antifungal resistant patterns of <i>Candida</i> species isolated from women with urinary tract infections

Abstract

The incidence of Candida species has increased among females of child bearing age over the years. There has also been an increase in the resistance of these Candida species to the antifungal drugs used to treat them. This study is aimed at detecting the prevalence of Candida species among patients with urinary tract infections (UTI) attending gynecological unit of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. The distribution of pathogenic factors and the antifungal resistance pattern of the isolates were also determined. A total of 61 subjects of different ages and socioeconomic status attending the health facility were enrolled in this study. Samples of high vaginal swab (HVS) were collected from each of the participant and screened. A total of 36 candidal isolates were recovered from the samples out of which 11 (30.5%) were predominantly Candida albican, 5 (13.9%) Candida krusei, 4 (11.1%) Candida glabrata, 2 (5.6%) Candida tropicalis and 14 (38.9%) were not identified beyond the genus level. Ten (27.8%) of the isolates were not able to produce biofilm. Out of those that produce biofilm 17 (47.2%) produced weak biofilm, 5 (8.2%) produced moderate biofilm, while 4 (11.1%) produced strong biofilm. Spectrophotometer was used to quantify those that produce biofilm 9 (25%) produced moderate biofilm while 16 (44.4%) produced strong biofilm. The isolates were subjected to various pathogenicity tests which include haemolysis, catalase, phospholipase and hydrolysis. This test shows that Candida species has the highest percentage to the entire test while none of C. glabrata produced haemolysin and phospholipase. Antifungal assay was then carried out on the entire organisms showed Candida albicans to have low resistance to the azoles drugs while the non-albican Candida shows higher resistance to it. Extremely high prevalence of Candida albicans and Candida species were documented in this study. These findings should be taken into account in further research concerning presence of Candida among patient with sexually transmitted disease in Nigeria.