Over the last decades,
Candida spp have been responsible for an increasing number of infections, especially in
patients requiring intensive care. Knowledge of local epidemiology and analysis of the spread of these pathogens
is important in understanding and controlling their transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic
diversity of 31
Candida albicans
and 17
Candida glabrata
isolates recovered from intensive care unit patients from
the tertiary hospital in Krakow between 2011-2012. The strains were typed by random amplified polymorphic DNA
(RAPD) polymerase chain reaction using five primers (CD16AS, HP1247, ERIC-2, OPE-3 and OPE-18). The results
of the present investigation revealed a high degree of genetic diversity among the isolates. No clonal relationship
was found among the
C. albicans strains, whereas two
C. glabrata isolates were identical. The source of
Candida
infection appeared to be mostly endogenous; however, the presence of two clonal
C. glabrata strains suggested the
possibility of cross-transmission of these pathogens. Our study confirmed the high discriminatory power of the
RAPD technique in the molecular typing of
Candida clinical isolates. This method may be applied to the evaluation
of transmission routes of pathogenic fungi on a local level.
