High prevalence of antifungal resistance in Candida spp. from patients with AIDS.

Three hundred and forty-eight isolates of Candida spp. from patients treated at a regional infectious diseases unit for AIDS, immunocompromised patients admitted to the Hope Hospital and isolates referred from around the North West of England were tested for their in vitro susceptibility to amphotericin B, fluconazole and flucytosine using standardized methods. Candida albicans comprised 73% of isolates, Candida glabrata 10% and Canida parapsilosis 7%. Ninety-six percent of isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B and resistance to ≥12.5 mg/L fluconazole was found in 61 (17-5%) of the 348 isolates tested. Among isolates from patients with AIDS the incidence of fluconazole resistance was 33% whereas in other patients the incidence was only 11%