Candida dubliniensis was reported as a new species in 1995. This species is often misidentified as Candida albicans. The aims of this work were to determine the occurrence of C. dubliniensis in various clinical materials, to evaluate several ways to identify it and to examine the genetic variability of isolates. Among 7706 isolates originally identified as C. albicans, 237 were identified as C. dubliniensis (3.1%). Most of the C. dubliniensis isolates were obtained from the upper and lower respiratory tract (61.4 and 22.9%). Five phenotypic methods including latex agglutination were used (cultivation on CHROMagar Candida, on Staib agar, at 42 °C and in medium with 6.5% NaCl), but only cultivation on the medium with an increased concentration of NaCl and latex agglutination gave reliable results. Species-specific polymerase chain reaction was used as the confirmation method. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry provided less reliable results. In fact, 78.9% of C. dubliniensis isolates had scores above 1.7. However, the rest of them (21.1%) were also identified as C. dubliniensis even when the scores were lower than 1.7. Divergences among C. dubliniensis strains were evaluated by means of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Eighty-six selected C. dubliniensis isolates showed a 69.6% level of similarity. The results of this study expand the knowledge of the incidence, means of identification and genotypic divergence of C. dubliniensis isolates.

• MeSH
• Candida classification   genetics   isolation & purification   physiology   MeSH
• Sodium Chloride metabolism   MeSH
• Genetic Variation MeSH
• Genotype MeSH
• Candidiasis microbiology   MeSH
• Latex Fixation Tests MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Microbiological Techniques methods   MeSH
• Polymerase Chain Reaction MeSH
• Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field MeSH
• Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization MeSH
• Temperature MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Sodium Chloride MeSH

The relationship between inflammatory bowel disease and microorganisms was evaluated. The presence of Candida albicans-specific IgM and IgG antibodies in serum samples and the presence of C. albicans in stool and colonal mucosa samples of the patients did not exhibit any significant difference between 21 patients in active stage and 15 patients in remission of ulcerative colitis (UC) (compared with 19 control patients). The invasion of yeast cells to the colonal mucosa was demonstrated by detecting C. albicans DNA using specific PCon1, PCon2, and PspA2 primers in PCR assay. Eighteen of 36 patients (50%) were found to be DNA positive while in 19 controls only 4 (21%) were found to be positive. The presence of DNA in the association of the positive serological reactivity is suggested as an important diagnostic marker of UC.

• MeSH
• Models, Biological MeSH
• Candida albicans genetics   immunology   isolation & purification   pathogenicity   MeSH
• DNA, Fungal analysis   genetics   MeSH
• Feces microbiology   MeSH
• Immunoglobulin G blood   MeSH
• Immunoglobulin M blood   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Polymerase Chain Reaction MeSH
• Antibodies, Fungal blood   MeSH
• Base Sequence MeSH
• Intestinal Mucosa microbiology   MeSH
• Case-Control Studies MeSH
• Colitis, Ulcerative etiology   immunology   microbiology   pathology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• DNA, Fungal MeSH
• Immunoglobulin G MeSH
• Immunoglobulin M MeSH
• Antibodies, Fungal MeSH