Putative virulence factors of Candida species colonizing

respiratory tracts of patients
 

Asem A. Shehabi , Shatha A. Nazzal , Naheel Dajani

Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, part of the Taylor & Francis Group,

Volume 16, Number 4 / December 2004,Pages 214-217

 

Department of Pathology-Microbiology Faculty of Medicine, University of Jordan Amman Jordan

 

Abstract: The objective of this research was to investigate the patterns of Candida species colonizing respiratory tracts of hospitalized patients and their production of putative virulence factors in vitro. One hundred and twenty-nine Candida isolates were collected from respiratory tract specimens of adult Jordanian patients admitted to Jordan University Hospital (JUH) during the period 1999-2001. The patterns of colonization were as follows. C. albicans accounted for (67%) of the isolates, followed by non-C. albicans isolates (33%), including C. krusei (12%), C. tropicalis (11%), C. glabrata (6%) and other Candida spp. (4%). No significant differences were determined between the Candida isolates as regards their secretion in vitro of variable amounts of putative virulence factors - aspartyl proteinase, phospholipase and haemolysin (p>0.05). However, the mean production of proteinase using qualitative measurements is clearly more observed in C. albicans isolates colonizing the respiratory tract. The study concludes that putative virulence factors alone are not responsible for the colonization potential of Candida species.

Keywords: Candida species, virulence factors, human respiratory tract, Jordan