Genotyping and antifungal susceptibility profile of Candida albicans isolated from neonatal thrush infections in Iraq

Abstract

Thrush was an important problem in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) in all the world and also in our hospitals. So, this study come to focused on genotyping and antifungal susceptibility to the 22 isolates of Candida albicans obtained from thrush babies in (NICU) in Al-Zahra educational Hospital, an-Najaf governorate, Iraq. From February to August 2010, 33 cases of thrush were tested. A total of 25(75.75%) Candida isolates were obtained, only 22(66.6%) isolates were identified as Candida albicans and the others 3(9%) isolates were identified as Candida other than albicans. The genotyping of the transposable intron region of C. albicans strains showed that 21(95.45%) isolates belonged to the genotype A and 1 (4.54%) isolates belonged to the genotype B. Antifungal sensitivity test show no resistant to Amphotericin-B, while 3(13.63%) isolates showed cross resistant to fluconazole, itraconazole and ketoconazole, while one(4.54%) isolates showed cross resistant to fluconazole and ketoconazole.