Antifungal susceptibility profiles of Candida isolates from a prospective survey of invasive fungal infections in Italian intensive care units

The antifungal susceptibility pattern of 302 Candida isolates collected during an Italian survey on invasive fungal infections in the intensive care setting was investigated. The results were correlated with some epidemiological data and compared to the antifungal profiles obtained in a previous survey. No resistance to echinocandins was detected. The overall resistance to fluconazole was 12.6%, to posaconazole 6%, and to voriconazole 7.1%. C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis accounted for more than half of all fluconazole resistance. The decreased susceptibility to fluconazole is not uncommon (12.3%) and appears to be increasing, particularly among C. parapsilosis isolates from 2% in '90s to 25.8% in the present study. A routine antifungal susceptibility testing of this species is therefore recommended.