Background: During the past decade, Candida glabrata (C. glabrata) has emerged as an important cause of fungemia. Objectives: The aim of this study is to isolate strains of C. glabrata, determine its incidence and antifungal susceptibility in ICU patients attending Benha University Hospital. Methodology: This study was carried out in the period from January 2016 to December 2018. Blood culture was done to patients with suspected blood stream infections. Isolation of candida and identification of C. glabrata by phenotypic and genotypic methods then antifungal susceptibility testing was done. Results: Fourty three strains of candida were detected of which 9 strains were C. glabrata (21%). our study shows that the most common underlying risk factors in our institution were neutropenia (7cases), malignancy (6 cases), respiratory diseases (3cases), treatment with central venous catheter (3cases), receipt of parenteral nutrition (2cases) and exposure to surgery (2cases). C. glabrata was highly sensitive to caspofungin 7 (77.8%) followed by amphotricin B 6 (66.7%), fluconazol 2 (22.2%) with the least sensitivity to voriconazol 1 (11.1%). Conclusion: C. glabrata is a common cause of candidemia in our ICU. Neutropenia, malignancy, respiratory disease and treatment with central venous catheter are risk factors for its acquisition. |
