The antifungal susceptibility of Candida spp. isolated from oral’s cancer patients

Abstract

Oral candidiasis is a common disease in immunocompromised individuals and especially serious to cancer patients that are undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Therefore it is necessary to identify and evaluate their susceptibility to antifungal agents in vitro. Via conventional techniques such as CHROMagar Candida, chlamydospore formation test on Corn Meal Agar, and germ tube test on human serum, we identified 51/60 strains included: 34 strains of C. albicans, 14 strains of C. tropicalis and 3 strains of C. krusei. Antifungal susceptibility of 60 isolated strains was evaluated by CLSI M44-A disk diffusion method for clotrimazole, nystatin, amphotericin B, fluconazole and miconazole. All isolated strains were sensitive to nystatin and none were resistant to amphotericin B. All C.albicans isolates were susceptible to clotrimazole, nystatin, amphotericin B, fluconazole, and miconazole. The resistance rate for fluconazole, miconazole, and clotrimazole in this study were 11.67%, 10% and 5% respectively. In isolated Candida spp., the resistance rate for antifungal agents of C. tropicalis was the highest.