Karyotyping of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata from patients with Candida sepsis

The aim of this study was to determine the relatedness of Candida strains f rom patients suffering from Candida septicaemia by typing of Candida isolat es from blood cultures and different body sites by pulsed field gel electro phoresis (PFGE using a contour-clamped homogenous electric field, CHEF). We studied 17 isolates of Candida albicans and 10 isolates of Candida glabrat a from six patients. Four patients suffered from a C. albicans septicaemia, one patient from a C. glabrata septicaemia, and one patient had a mixed se pticaemia with C. albicans and C. glabrata. Eight isolates from blood cultu res were compared with 19 isolates of other sites (stool six, urine four, g enital swab four, tip of central venous catheter three, tracheal secretion one, sputum one). PFGE typing resulted in 10 different patterns, four with C. albicans and six with C. glabrata. Five of the six patients had strains of identical PFGE patterns in the blood and at other sites. Seven isolates of a 58-year-old female with a C. glabrata septicaemia fell into five diffe rent PFGE patterns. However, they showed minor differences only, which may be due to chromosomal rearrangements within a single strain. Thus it appear s, that the colonizing Candida strains were identical to the circulating st rains in the bloodstream in at least five of six patients.