Abstract
Forty two Candida albicans isolates were collected from clinical samples in Israel. Twenty strains were isolated from blood cultures and 22 from superficial candidiasis. Isolates were typed by MLST analysis. Thirty-seven Diploid Sequence Types (DSTs) were identified. Seventeen isolates (40.5%) displayed new DSTs; 34 (81%) clustered within previously described clades, while nine (19%) did not cluster in any known group. Clonal Complex (CC) 124 was the most prevalent in both candidemia and superficial candidiasis isolates, CC 918 was only found in candidemia strains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing C. albicans clinical isolates from Israel using MLST methodology, possibly pointing to geographic differences in strain distribution.
Acknowledgements
We thank Steven Park (Public Health Research Institute, New Jersey Medical School-UMDNJ, Newark, NJ, USA) for helpful discussions and advice. The material contained in this article was presented, in part, in poster form at the 5th Trends in Medical Mycology. 2–5 October, 2011, Valencia, Spain.
Declaration of interest: DSP receives grant support from Merck, Astellas and Pfizer and serves on advisory panels for these companies. Otherwise, the authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and the writing of the paper.