An investigation of Candida species isolated from blood cultures during 17 years in a university hospital.

Candidemia is the most frequent manifestation observed with invasive candidiasis. The aim of this study was to analyse the trends of candidemia in a large tertiary-care hospital to determine the overall incidence during January 1996-December 2012, as well as to determine the susceptibility of 453 isolates according to the revised Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) breakpoints. Candidemia episodes in adult and paediatric patients were retrospectively analysed from the laboratory data of Uludag University Healthcare and Research Hospital. The 17-year period studied was divided into three periods (1996-2001, 2002-2007 and 2008-2012) for better comparison, and candidemia incidence was determined by the ratio of total number of patients with candidemia per 1000 patients admitted to the hospital and per 10 000 patient days in these three periods. Redefined CLSI M27-A3 breakpoints were used for interpretation of antifungal susceptibility results. Candidemia incidence was determined as 2.2, 1.7 and 1.5 per 1000 admitted patients during 1996-2001, 2002-2007 and 2008-2012 respectively. A significantly decreased candidemia incidence was obtained in the third period. C. albicans (43.8%) was the most common candidemia agent, followed by C.parapsilosis (26.5%) in all three periods. According to the revised CLSI breakpoints, there was fluconazole resistance in C. albicans, C.parapsilosis, C.tropicalis and C.glabrata species (1.4%, 18.2%, 2.6% and 14.3% respectively). Almost all Candida species were found susceptible to voriconazole except one C.glabrata (7.1%) isolate. Candidemia is an important health problem. Local epidemiological data are determinative in the choice of appropriate antifungal treatment agents.