Background: Of all blood stream infections (BSI), candidaemia poses the greatest threat with a high fatality rate among children. There has been an increase in the number of reports of non-C. albicans species and antifungal resistance has progressively emerge.
Aim: The present study aimed to demonstrate the prevalence of candidaemia among children and to characterize the involved species and their susceptibility to antifungal agents.
Methodology: Microbes were isolated from blood samples and identified via standard microbiological procedures. Chromogenic media was used to characterize the Candida species. The susceptibility of the isolates to the antifungal agents; caspofungin, amphotericin, itraconazole, and fluconazole was determined with the E-test.
Statistical methods: The data were analysed with Statistical Package for the Social Science SPSS; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) version 15 for Microsoft Windows. Comparisons between the study groups were performed using the Chi square (χ2) test. p-values less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Results: Candidaemia accounted for 17.3% of all BSIs. C. albicans and non-C. albicans species accounted for 36% and 64% of the cases of candidaemia, respectively. Caspofungin, amphotericin, itraconazole, and fluconazole antifungals had activities of 99%, 97%, 73% and 64%, respectively. In total, 64% of patients with candiaemia died.
Conclusion: The prevalence of candidaemia was high, the fatality rate was alarming and non-C. albicans species were predominant. Fluconazole was the least effective of the tested antifungal agents owing to the high level of resistance.
Keywords: antifungal; candidaemia; chromogenic agar.