Identification, Prevalence and Susceptibility Profile of Candida Isolates at the Pasteur Institute in Côte D'ivoire from 2017 to 2019

This study was conducted in Côte d’Ivoire to determine the respective prevalence of Candida species and to study their susceptibility profile to antifungal agents to identify the emergence of resistance.This retrospective study was conducted from 2017 to 2019 at the Institute Pasteur of Côte d’Ivoire on patients with fungal disease. The yeasts isolated and identified in Côte d’Ivoire were subcultured on a chromogenic medium and identified with MALDI-TOF-MS. Sensitivity tests were performed using the CLSI method and evaluated by the M27. In total, 227 Candida spp. were isolated from 1941 patients. Most of the samples were vaginal swabs (120/228). Using the conventional method, C. albicans was prevalent (52.6%). There were mixtures of 2 to 4 species in 36.8% of the samples. Thus MALDI-TOF-MS identified in 315 isolates 13 distinct species, C. tropicalis was prevalent at 35.2%, and the species in both C. albicans and C. parapsilosis complexes were differentiated. This study highlights the hurdle of correct yeast identification in developing countries. The transition from conventional to modern MALDI-TOF based identification of these life-threatening opportunistic pathogens is mandatory and should be emphasised as a public health priority.