Species spectrum and antifungal susceptibility profile of vaginal isolates of Candida in Kuwait.

OBJECTIVE: The study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) among patients with vaginitis, frequency of different Candida species, and their susceptibility profile. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Over six months period, high vaginal swabs were cultured on Sabouraud's dextrose agar and isolates were identified by culture on CHROMagar Candida and Vitek2 yeast identification system or/and API 20C (BioMerieux, France). Antifungal susceptibility of the Candida isolates was determined by E-test against amphotericin B, flucytosine, fluconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole and caspofungin. RESULTS: One thousand seven hundred and fifty-two women with vaginitis were screened for the prevalence of Candida spp. Vaginal swab cultures of 231 (13.2%) women yielded Candida spp. The isolation rates of different species were as follows: Candida albicans (73.9%), Candida glabrata (19.8%), Candida kefir (1.94%), Candida tropicalis (0.96%), Candida parapsilosis (0.96%), Candida krusei (0.96%), Candida guilliermondii (0.96%), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (0.52%). All strains of C. albicans and non-C. albicans were susceptible to most of the antifungal agents tested. CONCLUSION: The high frequency with which C. albicans was recovered and its azole susceptibility support the continued use of azole agents for empirical therapy of uncomplicated VVC. However, a larger controlled study is required to determine the role of non-C. albicans in recurrent VVC.

Surface ultrastructure of Stictodora tridactyla (Trematoda: Heterophyidae) from Kuwait Bay.

The surface morphology of Stictodora tridactyla recovered from a kitten that was fed the killifish, Aphanius dispar, naturally infected with the metacercariae was studied using scanning electron microscopy. The body comprised a rounded head, elongate neck, and widely pyriform hind-body. The head bore a circular oral sucker on the ventral side, and concentric rows of peg-like cephalic spines on the dorsal side. The oral sucker was armed with pre-oral spines similar in shape and size to the cephalic spines. The neck and hind-body were densely covered with scale-like multipointed spines, the size and density of which decreased from anterior to posterior parts of the body. Ciliated dome-shaped papillae were found solitarily or as conjugated groups on the head apex and lips of the oral sucker. Non-ciliated dome-shaped papillae were restricted to the lower lip of the oral sucker. The body was devoid of a ventral sucker. The genital opening appeared as a round depression of the tegument at about the anterior third of the body. This is the first record of the occurrence of S. tridactyla in the Arabian Gulf region and A. dispar is a new second intermediate host.