Molecular identification of Candida species from urinary infections in Honduras.

BACKGROUND: Candiduria is a common infection among hospitalised patients. Although the clinical relevance of yeasts in urine is not clearly defined, fungal urinary tract infections have increased significantly in the last decades, becoming a growing public health problem. Candida albicans is the most commonly reported species in urinary infections, although other species of the genus are becoming particularly important, because some of them are linked with resistance to antifungal drugs.

AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of Candida species causing candiduria in a hospital in Honduras.

METHODS: A simple and cost-effective PCR-RFLP approach was used, by amplifying a partial sequence of the ribosomal ITS1-ITS2 region and a subsequent digestion with the enzyme MspI.

RESULTS: During 2016, an analysis was performed on 73 urine samples from patients of different ages. Seven species were found. Candida albicans/dubliniensis was the most frequent species (30%); Candida glabrata (28.8%) was the most isolated among the rest of the species. Candida kefyr was the least frequent species found (2.5%).

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows, for the first time in Honduras, the frequency of the Candida species isolated from urine using PCR-RFLP for their identification. This approach could be applied in future epidemiological studies at local and national level.