susceptibility pattern of candida albicans isolated from iranian patients to antifungal agents

Background and purpose: candidiasis is a major fungal infection, and candida albicans is the major cause of infectionsin humans. the clinical and laboratory standards institute (clsi) developed new breakpoints for antifungal agentsagainst c. albicans. in this multicenter study, we aimed to determine the drug susceptibility profile of c. albicans,isolated from iranian population according to new speciesspecific clsi.materials and methods: clinical samples were cultured on sabouraud dextrose agar and were incubated at room temperature for seven days. the isolates were transferred to professor alborzi clinical microbiology research center, shiraz,iran. c. albicans were identified by using api 20c aux system. broth microdilution method was used to determinethe minimum inhibitory concentrations (mics) of amphotericin b, caspofungin, voriconazole, fluconazole, posaconazole,itraconazole, and ketoconazole, based on clsi document m27s4 and new breakpoints for some azoles and caspofungin.results: overall, 397 c. albicans were isolated from patients admitted to ten university hospitals in iran. the mic90of the isolates to amphotericin b, caspofungin, voriconazole, fluconazole, posaconazole, itraconazole, and ketoconazolewere 0.125, 0.125, 0.125, 1, 0.064, 0.5, and 0.125 mu;g/ml, and rates of resistance were 0.5%, 0.3%, 3.8%, 2.8%, and 2.5%for amphotericin b, caspofungin, voriconazole, fluconazole, and itraconazole, respectively.conclusion: according to our data, fluconazole is the drug of choice for management of patients at risk for systemiccandidiasis throughout the region, since it is costeffective with low side effects.