Candida tropicalis fungemia in a tertiary care hospital

Candida tropicalis is a frequent cause of fungemia in hospitals in Latin America. Candida albicans (33%) was the most frequently isolated species, followed by Candida parapsilosis (27%), and Candida tropicalis (24%) in tertiary care hospital in Brazil. We identified and retrospectively reviewed 27 cases of C. tropicalis fungemia that occurred at Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre from 1996 to 1999. The mean age of the patients was 32 years (range 6 months to 88 years). Eight patients (29.6%) had hematological malignancy, and four (14.8%) had solid tumors. All the patients were taking broad-spectrum antibiotics, including vancomycin for at least 7 days. Antibiotics were given through a central venous catheter for the majority of the patients (77.7%). Relevant risk factors for candidemia in our patients included neutropenia (59.2%), and use of corticosteroids (37.0%) or cytotoxic drugs (40.7%). The onset of fever was the most frequent clinical manifestation (92.5%) of fungemia. Most of the patients (81.4%) were treated with amphotericin B or fluconazole. Overall mortality was 48.1%, and 7 (53.4%) of 13 deaths occurred within 10 days of the detection of candidemia. Results of the in vitro susceptibility testing of nine isolates of C. tropicalis from seven patients did not show resistance to fluconazole and amphotericin B. C. tropicalis presents as an important cause of fungemia in oncological and nononcological patients with central venous catheters taking broad-spectrum antibiotics. Although there was no evidence of resistance of C. tropicalis to amphotericin B and fluconazole, patients treated with antifungal agents presented with a high mortality rate in the hospital setting. (C) 2002 The British Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.