The Matching Rate of the Frequency of the Isolated Candida Species Calculated by Morphological and Molecular Methods in Patients with Vaginitis

Candida vaginitis is one of the most common opportunistic fungal infections and 75% of women struggle at least once with this infection during their lifetime. The purpose of this study was to compare the results of two phenotypic and molecular methods in the diagnosis of candida vaginitis.
In this study, 125 vaginal samplings were done by two sterilized swabs from suspected patients to vaginal candidiasis. The direct experiment performed by preparing two staining slides, one with Gimsa and the second with 10% Potassium hydroxide (KOH). For culturing, Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol (SC), corn meal agar (CMA) and Chromagar candida were used. At first, the isolates were identified by microscopic observation and creation of specific color on Chromagar and chlamydoconidia on CMA culture media. For molecular methods, the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was also used with MspI enzyme.
Findings: Out of the 125 samples, 53 (42%) were positive in terms of vaginal candidiasis in both methods. Isolated species were as Candida albicans 46 isolates (87%), Candida glabrata 5 isolates (9%) and Candida kruise 2 isolates (4%).
In present study, Candida albicans, like most studies, diagnosed as the most frequent species. This study shows the high frequency of vaginal candidiasis. Therefore, due to the similarity of the results in both methods and considering the lack of sufficient and advanced molecular facilities in deprived areas, using phenotypic tests is recommended.