Isolation and identification of Candida Species in Patients with Vulvovaginal Candidiasis

Abnormal vaginal discharge is one of the frequent complaints of women of reproductive age group. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of vulvovaginal candidiasis(VVC) among the patients attending the tertiary care hospital with complaints of suggestive of vaginitis. This study was done in a tertiary care hospital, Chennai for a period of 1 year from January 2017 to December 2017. The study included 160 women of the age group 15 - 65 years with complaints suggestive of vaginitis. High vaginal swabs were taken and subjected to direct microscopy, cultured onto Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and Hichrome Candida differential agar. Candida species were determined by standard microbiological methods and the results were confirmed by automated VITEK2 compact. Candida species were isolated from 56 patients which included C. albicans (25), C. tropicalis (20), C. glabrata (6), C. parapsilosis(4), C. krusei(1). Our study shows higher prevalence of non albicans Candida causing VVC. Hence, we recommend that the investigations up to species identification of Candida may be routinely followed in the microbiology laboratories.