candida species isolated from clinical samples in a tertiary hospital in honduras: where is candida auris?

Background and purpose: infections by emerging and multiresistant candida species are becoming more frequent throughout the world. this study aimed to describe candida species in different wards of a tertiary hospital in honduras. materials and methods: the prevalence of species within the c. albicans complex was estimated using a molecular approach, and c. auris was investigated using a yeast pool-based dna extraction method. in total, 328 yeast isolates were identified using phenotypic approaches. for the identification of species within the c. albicans complex, a molecular approach based on the size polymorphisms of the hpw1 gene was used. in addition, a technique was optimized based on dna extraction in pools for the rapid identification of c. auris. results: a total of 11 species of candida were identified in the hospital wards. c. albicans showed the highest number of isolates (52.4%). within the c. albicans complex, c. albicans sensu stricto was the most common, followed by c. dubliniensis. however, c. auris was not found. conclusion: reports on the distribution of candida species in honduras are limited; accordingly, the data from this study are of importance for a better understanding of their epidemiology. moreover, a simple method was offered for the detection of c. auris that could help in its detection in low-resource settings.