Candida rugosa - an Emerging Cause of Nosocomial Candidemia

Fungemia is usually nosocomial and develops in the setting of antimicrobial therapy, cancer chemotherapy, bowel surgery or the use of intravenous plastic catheters. Here we report a case of intravenous catheter associated fungemia caused by Candida rugosa. Multiple samples of blood and catheter tip were cultured on Blood Agar, Sabouraud's Dextrose Agar media. Morphology was studied on Corn Meal Agar and HiChrome Candida Differential Agar. The isolate was further confirmed by biochemical tests and Mini API (bioMerieux, Etoile, France). The strain was also confirmed by molecular analysis in reference centre. Antifungal susceptibility test was done following M-44A Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guidelines. The isolate was labeled as Candida rugosa. The isolate was sensitive to nystatin and itraconazole. The patient expired subsequently despite antifungal therapy. Candida rugosa may represent an emerging pathogen associated with invasive medical procedures causing serious systemic infection and associated with high mortality rates.