[Prevalence of vaginal candidiasis in pregnant women. Identification of yeasts and susceptibility to antifungal agents]. / Prevalencia de candidiasis vaginal en embarazadas. identificación de levaduras y sensibilidad a los antifúngicos.

Pregnant women are more susceptible to both vaginal colonization and infection by yeast. Our objectives were to determine the prevalence in pregnant women of yeasts isolated from vaginal exudates and their susceptibility to current antifungal drugs. A total of 493 patients was studied between December 1998 and February 2000. The prevalence of Candida spp. was 28% (Candida albicans 90.4%; Candida glabrata 6.3%; Candida parapsilosis 1.1%, Candida kefyr 1.1 %; unidentified species 1.1 %). The diffusion test in Shadomy agar was employed to determine the susceptibility to fluconazole, ketoconazole, itraconazole and nistatine. All C. albicans, C. kefyr and C. parapsilosis isolates were susceptible in vitro to the antifungal agents tested, while 1 in 6 C. glabrata isolates showed resistance to azole drugs; all strains were susceptible to nistatine. In pregnant women, C. albicans was the yeast most frequently isolated from vaginal exudates; it continues to be highly susceptible to antifungal drugs. Azole resistance was detected only among C. glabrata isolates. Identification to the species level is recommended, specially in cases of treatment failure and recurrent or chronic infection.

[Adjunctive treatment with hyperbaric oxygen in a patient with rhino-sinuso-orbital mucormycosis]. / Tratamiento adyuvante con oxígeno hiperbárico en un paciente con mucormicosis rino-sinuso-orbitaria.

Mucormycosis (phycomycosis) is an acute and often fatal infection, mostly seen in diabetics and immunocompromised patients, and seldom in healthy people. Therapy includes aggressive surgical debridement, amphotericin B and control of underlying predisposing condition (diabetes, immunosuppression or immunodeficiency). The rhino-sinuso-orbital presentation is typically observed in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with ketoacidosis. This metabolic condition may impair the polymorphonuclear function in a reversible way and this may favour infection by a mucoral. These spores germinate into hyphae, which invade local arteries and arterioles, causing thrombosis, vascular insufficiency and tissue hypoxia and acidosis, conditions which further enhance fungal growth. Hyperbaric oxygen has theoretical value in treating mucormycosis, since it reduces tissue hypoxia caused by the vascular insufficiency. We report an insulin-dependent diabetic patient with rhino-sinuso-orbital mucormycosis, who after being treated with amphotericin B and surgical debridement on two occasions, maintained clinical and tomographic evidence of active infection, and mucoral persistence in the lesion. An aggressive surgical debridement, using microsurgical techniques, was performed. Amphotericin B was increased up to a total dose of 3900 mg. (he had previously received 2900 mg) and hyperbaric oxygen was added as adjunctive treatment. The outcome was successful. There was no evidence of relapse after a 16-month follow-up. This observation would confirm the usefulness of hyperbaric oxygen as adjunctive therapy in mucormycosis.

[Cryptococcosis in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)]. / Criptococosis en el síndrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida (SIDA).

Cryptococcus neoformans is an infrequent but important cause of severe disease in immunodepressed patients, especially in those with AIDS. We refer the case of a 45 year old patient with clinical, epidemiological and serological patterns of HIV-induced infection in the course of which the patient suffered a subacute neurologic syndrome with fatal evolution. The diagnosis was made by isolation of Cryptococcus neoformans in CSF and in palpable lymph nodes by fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Cryptococcal antigen titer of CSF was 1:2560. Treatment was standardized in the administration of amphotericin B (0.3 mg/kg/day) and 5-fluocytosine (150 mg/kg/day) for a period of six weeks. Factors that suggested poor prognosis were: a positive india ink preparation before treatment, a high initial CSF antigen titer, low CSF leukocyte count and the presence of Cryptococcus neoformans at an extraneural site. Since diagnosis of cryptococcosis was made when prominent localizing symptoms and signs were found, an intensive culture and serologic screening would be necessary in every patient with AIDS in order to establish an earlier diagnosis.

Results from the ARTEMIS DISK Global Antifungal Surveillance Study: a 6.5-year analysis of susceptibilities of Candida and other yeast species to fluconazole and voriconazole by standardized disk diffusion testing.

Fluconazole in vitro susceptibility test results for 140,767 yeasts were collected from 127 participating investigators in 39 countries from June 1997 through December 2003. Data were collected on 79,343 yeast isolates tested with voriconazole from 2001 through 2003. All investigators tested clinical yeast isolates by the CLSI (formerly NCCLS) M44-A disk diffusion method. Test plates were automatically read and results were recorded with the BIOMIC Vision Image Analysis System. Species, drug, zone diameter, susceptibility category, and quality control results were collected quarterly via e-mail for analysis. Duplicate (the same patient, same species, and same susceptible-resistant biotype profile during any 7-day period) and uncontrolled test results were not analyzed. The 10 most common species of yeasts all showed less resistance to voriconazole than to fluconazole. Candida krusei showed the largest difference, with over 70% resistance to fluconazole and less than 8% to voriconazole. All species of yeasts tested were more susceptible to voriconazole than to fluconazole, assuming proposed interpretive breakpoints of > or =17 mm (susceptible) and < or =13 mm (resistant) for voriconazole. MICs reported in this study were determined from the zone diameter in millimeters from the continuous agar gradient around each disk, which was calibrated with MICs determined from the standard CLSI M27-A2 broth dilution method by balanced-weight regression analysis. The results from this investigation demonstrate the broad spectrum of the azoles for most of the opportunistic yeast pathogens but also highlight several areas where resistance may be progressing and/or where previously rare species may be "emerging."

Lymphocyte subpopulations and cytokine production in paracoccidioidomycosis patients.

Despite the postulated role of the immune system in the control of the infection by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, only a few studies have addressed this point in patients. The determination of total lymphocytes and their subpopulations in 6 untreated patients with the chronic form of paracoccidiodomycosis showed that half of them were lymphopenic, because of low number of CD4+ T-lymphocytes. All patients had low CD4/CD8 ratios. On the contrary, B-lymphocytes were normal in all patients. An additional patient, studied on treatment with ketoconazole, had normal lymphocyte counts in all subpopulations, as did one of the patients previously studied at diagnosis when he received specific antimycotic treatment. The production of interferon and tumor necrosis factor, determined by bioassay in supernatants of mononuclear blood cells of the patients, induced by interleukin 2 in vitro was significantly lower than that of normal subjects. These results show that patients with paracoccidioidomycosis have a defect in blood lymphocyte subsets as well as in the ability to produce regulatory cytokines.

Prevalencia de candidiasis vaginal en embarazadas: Identificación de levaduras y sensibilidad a los antifúngicos / Prevalence of vaginal candidiasis in pregnant women: Identification of yeasts and susceptibility to antifungal agents

La mujer embarazada es más susceptible tanto a la colonización como a la infección vaginal por levaduras. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar la prevalencia de levaduras aisladas de exudados vaginales de mujeres embarazadas y evaluar la sensibilidad a los antifúngicos de uso frecuente. Se estudiaron 493 pacientes en el período comprendido desde diciembre de 1998 hasta febrero de 2000. La prevalencia de Candida spp. fue 28% (Candida albicans 90,4%, Candida glabrata 6,3%, Candida parapsilosis 1,1%, Candida kefyr 1,1%, especies no identificadas 1,1%). Se determinó la sensibilidad a fluconazol, ketoconazol, itraconazol y nistatina por el método de difusión en agar Shadomy. Todos los aislamientos de C. albicans, C. kefyr y C. parapsilosis fueron sensibles in vitro a los antifúngicos probados, mientras que 1 de 6 aislamientos de C. glabrata presentó resistencia extendida a todos los azoles, pero sensibilidad a nistatina. En mujeres embarazadas C. albicans fue la levadura más frecuentemente aislada de exudados vaginales y continúa siendo ampliamente sensible a los antifúngicos; sólo en C. glabrata se observó resistencia a los azoles. Se recomienda la identificación de la levadura a nivel de especie particularmente en el caso de falla terapéutica y en infecciones recidivantes o crónicas.

Pregnant women are more susceptible to both vaginal colonization and infection by yeast. Our objectives were to determine the prevalence in pregnant women of yeasts isolated from vaginal exudates and their susceptibility to current antifungal drugs. A total of 493 patients was studied between December 1998 and February 2000. The prevalence of Candida spp. was 28% (Candida albicans 90.4%; Candida glabrata 6.3%; Candida parapsilosis 1.1%, Candida kefyr 1.1%; unidentified species 1.1%). The diffusion test in Shadomy agar was employed to determine the susceptibility to fluconazole, ketoconazole, itraconazole and nistatine. All C. albicans, C. kefyr and C. parapsilosis isolates were susceptible in vitro to the antifungal agents tested, while 1 in 6 C. glabrata isolates showed resistance to azole drugs; all strains were susceptible to nistatine. In pregnant women, C. albicans was the yeast most frequently isolated from vaginal exudates; it continues to be highly susceptible to antifungal drugs. Azole resistance was detected only among C. glabrata isolates. Identification to the species level is recommended, specially in cases of treatment failure and recurrent or chronic infection.

Tratamiento adyuvante con oxigeno hiperbarico en un paciente con mucormicosis rino-sinuso-orbitaria / Adjunctive treatment with hyperbaric oxygen in a patient with rhino-sinuso-orbital mucormycosis

Se presenta un paciente, diabético insulino-dependiente, portador de una mucormicosis rino-sinuso-orbitaria, que habiendo sido tratado con debridamiento quirúrgico en dos oportunidades y anfotericina B en una dosis totald e 2900 mg, mantenía signos clínicos y tomográficos de actividad infecciosa con persistencia del hongo en a lesión. Se realizó debridamiento amplio con técnica microquirúrgica, se incrementó la dosis de anfotericina B hasta 3900 mg agregándose terapéutica adyuvante con oxígenio hiperbárico. El resultado fue exitoso, sin evidencias de recaída en 16 meses de seguimiento. Esta observación confirma la utilidad del oxígeno hiperbárico como terapéutica adyuvante en mucormicosis