Journal of Laboratory Physicians最新文献

{"title":"Experience of rigorous practice of antimicrobial stewardship program and its impact on antibiotic consumption","authors":"Shweta Kumar, S. Khadanga, Rehan Ul Haq, Pradeep Saxena, Ananyan Sampath, Karuna Tadepalli","doi":"10.25259/jlp_17_2024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp_17_2024","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the next pandemic with a huge global economic burden. A customized antimicrobial stewardship program (AMSP) is a well-recognized tool for containment of AMR. The current study was undertaken to identify the impact of AMSP measures on the trends of antibiotic consumption rates, e.g., defined daily dose (DDD) and days of therapy (DOT) per 100 patient days in pre-identified areas of the hospital.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The present study was a case-record-based extended cross-sectional study carried out in a tertiary care institute in central India from January 2021 to September 2021. Time-bound feasible sampling was undertaken, and all cases were included without any exclusion criteria. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute and funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The data was entered into a spreadsheet. The calculation of DDD and DOT was performed individually for each antibiotic as per WHO tool per 100 patient days.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000In high-priority areas such as intensive care unit and high dependency unit, the top three DDD/100 days were meropenem (77.9), colistin (41.4), and piperacillin-tazobactam (13.5) versus the top 3 DOT/100 patient days were meropenem (40.5), colistin (20.9), and piperacillin-tazobactam (15.7). In low-priority areas such as general wards, the top 3 DDD/100 patient days were meropenem (45.4), piperacillin-tazobactam (22.6), and cefoperazone (5.0) versus the top three DOT/100 patient days were meropenem (45.4), cefoperazone (44.9), and piperacillintazobactam (22.6). There was a downward trend of consumption of almost all these antibiotics when measured at baseline and the next two quarters. DDD and DOT per 100 patient days had a positive linear correlation during the study period.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The present study demonstrates about 50% reduction in consumption of ICMR priority antibiotics with a yearlong AMSP. DDD and DOT per 100 patient days can be calculated with minimal effort, even in extremely busy hospitals. DOT tools are less labor-intensive and, hence, should be the pivotal tool for antibiotic exposure measurement.\u0000","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141270223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A new era for Journal of Laboratory Physicians","authors":"Sarman Singh","doi":"10.25259/jlp_31_2024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp_31_2024","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141270416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sensitivity and specificity of newly generated monoclonal antibodies to detect novel antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for the diagnosis of all forms of tuberculosis","authors":"Anil Kumar Gupta, Amit Singh, Saumya Srivastava, Arti Shrivas, A. Malhotra, Pawan Sharma, Sarman Singh","doi":"10.25259/jlp_34_2023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp_34_2023","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000Tuberculosis (TB) is curable if diagnosed correctly and promptly. However, the lack of effective and accessible point-of-care tests hindered the systematic screening of TB. The current TB diagnostic methods, including molecular tests, have failed to deliver the capacity needed in the endemic countries to restrict the ongoing pandemic. The detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by serology offers several advantages, including rapid and low-cost disease detection. Earlier, we had evaluated the diagnostic utility of five novel recombinant antigens, namely, SS-1, SS-2, SS-3, SS-4, and SS-5, with Indian patient sera. However, antibody detection has some limitations, and therefore, in the present study, we aimed to generate monoclonal antibodies and explore the utility of the most promising antibodies for the detection of TB.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000We used the three best recombinant antigens, that is, Rv2145c (SS-1), Rv1827 (SS-4), and Rv2970c (SS-5) for the generation of monoclonal antibodies. The monoclonal antibodies were developed using hybridoma technology. Further, the diagnostic utility of these monoclonal antibodies was evaluated in diagnosis of TB by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum samples from bacteriologically confirmed TB cases and controls were used.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000All statistical analysis was carried out using STATA-11.1 software (StataCorp LP, Texas, USA). The sensitivity and specificity were computed using an online tool (OpenEpi). Statistically significant differences between groups were defined as p<0.05.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000A total of 384 serum samples were included in the study. This included 144 pulmonary TB cases, 68 extrapulmonary TB cases, 50 disease controls and 125 healthy controls. The sensitivity and specificity of our three monoclonal antibodies (mAb_SS-1, mAb_SS-4, and mAb_SS-5) for detecting all forms of TB ranged from 86.49% to 97.44% and 96.57% to 98.29%, respectively. The receiver operative characteristic curve showed a significant statistical difference between TB and healthy subjects (P < 0.001).\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000Our data suggested that mAb_SS-1, mAb_SS-4, and mAb_SS-5 could be used as potential TB screening tests, especially in the resource-limiting setting.\u0000","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141116223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Martin’s formula is best to calculate low-density lipoprotein cholesterol","authors":"Fatima Farheen, Sudha Ambiger, Kamarudin Jaalam, Shivalingappa Javali","doi":"10.25259/jlp-2022-7-20-(1343)","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp-2022-7-20-(1343)","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000Due to the cost-effectiveness, most of the laboratories in India estimate low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels with the Friedewald’s formula. There were many shortcomings of the Friedewald’s formula. Recently, Martins have derived a new formula for calculating LDL-C. The present study was undertaken to calculate LDL-C using various formulae (Friedewald’s formula, Anandaraja’s formula, and Martin’s formula) and to compare directly measured LDL-C with calculated LDL-C at various ranges of triglyceride (TG) concentration.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The present study compared LDL-C measured by Martin’s formula, Friedewald’s formula, and Anandaraja’s formula with directly measured LDL In 280 Outpatient fasting samples between the age group of 18 and 50 years. Depending on the TG values, study samples are divided into four groups. Group 1: <200 mg/dL, Group 2: 200–300 mg/dL, Group 3: 300–400 mg/dL, Group 4: >400 mg/dL.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000This was performed by the Statistical package for social sciences version 16. Paired t test and pearson correlation were performed to find the significant difference and correlation between direct LDL-C and calculated LDL-C by different formula.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000Martin’s formula shows highest correlation with r-value of (0.9979) compared to Friedewald’s (0.9857) and Anandaraja’s (0.9683) r-values. The mean difference was least for Martin’s formula (0.31 ± 3.53) compared to other formulae. Among all the groups, the percentage of error was least for Martin’s formula (0.23%). Martin’s LDL-C shows highest concordance (90.90%) compared to Friedewald’s (79.60%) and Anandaraja’s formulae (82.90%).\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000Among all the groups, Martin’s formula shows highest correlation, least percentage of error, highest concordance, and least mean differences. At all TG levels, Martin’s formula is the best formula compared to the Friedewald’s formula and Anandaraja’s formula.\u0000","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140995089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A comparative in vitro sensitivity study of “cefepime-tazobactam” and other antibiotics against Gram-negative isolates from intensive care unit","authors":"Mitra Kar, Tasneem Siddiqui, S. Sengar, C. Sahu","doi":"10.25259/jlp-2023-4-29-(1769)","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp-2023-4-29-(1769)","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000The major health problem today includes the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, especially extended-spectrum β lactamase, carbapenemases, and Amp C-producing Gram-negative bacilli (GNB). Our study is aimed to recognize the in vitro susceptibility pattern of cefepime/tazobactam compared to other antibiotics used against GNB in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000We conducted a prospective observational research comprising all GNB isolated from clinical samples of patients admitted to the ICU throughout the study period from January 2021 to December 2021. All of the isolates were analyzed using “ Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/ionization - time of flight - Mass spectrometry assay (MALDI-TOF-MS)” for identification and the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique to test for susceptibility. Cefepime-tazobactam was tested by E-test (Hi-Media, Mumbai) method. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of cefepime (as in Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute, 2021) has been utilized to elucidate the sensitivity of cefepime-tazobactam, as no criteria for cefepime-tazobactam is available.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000All statistical analysis was performed using the software program IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics version 20.0, with P < 0.05 considered statistically significant.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000We included a total of 480 GNB isolated from blood, pus, body fluids, endotracheal aspirates (ETA), and sputum samples. The most common microorganism tested for susceptibility to cefepime-tazobactam was Klebsiella pneumoniae (182/480, 37.92%) followed by Acinetobacter baumannii (135/480, 28.12%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (94/480, 19.58%). K. pneumoniae and Enterobacter aerogenes were most resistant to all the antibiotics tested against them. K. pneumoniae was most resistant to meropenem (41/182, 22.53%), followed by imipenem (42/182, 23.08%) and cefoperazone-sulbactam (49/182, 26.92%) and was predominantly found susceptible to cefepime-tazobactam (122/182, 67.04%).\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000Cefoperazone-tazobactam is a new “β-lactam/β-lactamase combination” found effective in the in vitro analysis of drug-resistant isolates of GNB.\u0000","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141009153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Performance of modified colistin broth disc elution vis-a-vis broth microdilution method for susceptibility testing of Enterobacterales","authors":"P. Kar, A. Mahapatra, Bilal Ahmad Malik, B. Behera, Srujana Mohanty","doi":"10.25259/jlp-2023-5-25-(1801)","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp-2023-5-25-(1801)","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000Recently, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has approved colistin broth disc elution (CBDE) to be a supplemental test. This requires multiple discs and tubes to get the desired concentrations of colistin -1, 2, and 4 µg/mL and 10 mL volume of cation-adjusted Mueller–Hinton broth for a single isolate. The present study was aimed to evaluate the performance of CBDE in a microtiter plate format modified (mCBDE) with the reference method broth microdilution (BMD) for detection of colistin resistance in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) isolates.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000One hundred and sixty non-duplicate clinical CRE isolates (May 2021–April 2022) were simultaneously subjected for BMD and mCBDE. For mCBDE, colistin 10 µg discs and Mueller–Hinton broth no-2 control cations were procured from HiMedia, Mumbai, and drug concentrations were prepared following CLSI-M100Ed31. Results of mCBDE were compared with reference BMD (Minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] ≤2 µg/mL – intermediate and ≥4 µg/mL – resistant).\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The performance of mCBDE was compared with BMD and expressed in terms of Categorical, essential agreement (EA), very major error (VME), and major error (ME). The sensitivity and specificity were calculated using Fisher’s contingency Table.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000Of the 160 CRE isolates, 152 had exactly the same minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) in both the tests with four isolates having higher and four having lower colistin MIC by mCBDE, giving a major error of 2.1% and VME of 5.5%. Categorical and essential agreement of mCBDE were 97.5% and 98.7%, respectively.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000mCBDE is an easy, economical, and reliable alternative test for determining colistin susceptibility for CRE isolates. Further, large-scale study is needed to strengthen our observation.\u0000","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141006678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Molecular epidemiology of Carbapenemase-encoding genes and comparative evaluation of carbapenem MIC with genotypic carbapenem resistance in Klebsiella isolates from neonatal sepsis cases","authors":"Seema Gangar, Narendra Pal Singh, N. Goyal, Subhashree Mohapatra, Shukla Das, Prerna Batra","doi":"10.25259/jlp_23_2023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp_23_2023","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000The objective of this study was to determine the molecular epidemiology of Carbapenemase-encoding genes in Klebsiella isolates from neonatal sepsis cases and comparative evaluation of carbapenem minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) with genotypic carbapenem resistance.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000One hundred cases of neonatal sepsis with blood cultures positive for Klebsiella spp. were included in the study. MIC for imipenem and meropenem was determined by Epsilometer-test. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was performed by modified Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method. All the isolates of Klebsiella spp. were tested for the presence of beta-lactamase Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (blaKPC ), beta-lactamase New Delhi metalloβ-lactamase-1(blaNDM-1), beta-lactamase imipenemase (blaIMP), beta-lactamase Verona imipenemas e (blaVIM) genes by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and uniplex PCR for beta-lactamase oxacillinase-48 (blaOXA-48). Comparison of individual antibiotic susceptibility between carbapenemase-encoding gene positive and negative Klebsiella spp. isolates was performed.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000Statistical analysis was done using the Fisher’s exact test. P < 0.05 was considered significant.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The prevalence of carbapenemase-encoding genes in Klebsiella spp. was 16%. Most predominant carbapenemase-encoding gene was blaOXA-48 gene (12%) followed by blaNDM-1 gene (6%). Coexpression of both blaOXA-48 and blaNDM-1 was observed in 2% of isolates. All the Klebsiella spp. isolates harboring the carbapenemases gene (100%) had resistant MIC values for Meropenem, whereas, for imipenem, only 75% of isolates had resistant MIC values.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000Determination of prevalence of carbapenemase-encoding genes is of paramount importance in the development of effective antibiotic policies at various levels.\u0000","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140364287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deadly hospital-acquired Chryseobacterium indologenes sepsis in a postpartum patient","authors":"Anuragini Verma, Sheetal Verma, V. Venkatesh","doi":"10.25259/jlp-2023-7-30-(1881)","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp-2023-7-30-(1881)","url":null,"abstract":"Chryseobacterium indologenes is an emerging multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacillus associated with severe nosocomial infections. We present a case of a 27-year-old postpartum woman who developed a life-threatening Chryseobacterium indologenes sepsis following a stillbirth. Despite prompt diagnosis and intensive care management, the patient’s condition deteriorated rapidly and was fatal. Thus, highlighting the challenges posed by the multidrug-resistant nature of this pathogen and the limited treatment options available.","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140371239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A study to assess the prevalence and risk factors for Clostridioides difficile infection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease in a tertiary care hospital in Northern India","authors":"U. Ghoshal, Romya Singh, Nidhi Tejan, C. Sahu, Ankita Pandey, U. Ghoshal","doi":"10.25259/jlp-2023-3-5-(1657)","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp-2023-3-5-(1657)","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000The prevalence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is on rise among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study sought to describe the prevalence and risk factors of CDI in patients with IBD as compared to non-IBD controls.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000This was a prospective study conducted at a Department of Microbiology in collaboration with a Department of Gastroenterology. The patients with IBD and controls without IBD presenting with diarrhea were included in the study. The screening test for C. difficile infection was done by glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) assay and toxin detection by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Anaerobic culture for C. difficile was done on a selective cycloserine cefoxitin fructose agar and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was done for Toxin A (TcdA) and Toxin B (TcdB) gene detection. C. difficile infection was confirmed if GDH and toxin ELISA or PCR were positive.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000Data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0.The numerical variables were presented by means and standard deviations. Comparison of continuous variables was done using Student’s t-test. Categorical variables were analyzed by Chi square test. P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000A total of 160 cases and 112 age- and gender-matched control were included in IBD group and nonIBD group, respectively. Only one culture was positive, 12 and six were positive for GDH ELISA and TcdA and TcdB ELISA, respectively, and 7 were positive by PCR for toxin genes. The factors found significantly associated with CDI were proton-pump inhibitors use (P = 0.001), levofloxacin (P =0.001), and azathioprine (P =0.042). Using PCR as a reference method for C. difficile toxin detection, the sensitivity, and specificity of GDH ELISA and ELISA for toxins were 100%, 96.8% and 85.7%, and 100%, respectively.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The prevalence of CDI among patients with IBD has been found to be low, that is (only 4.4%) in this study population.\u0000","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140376843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Antifungal susceptibility profile of Candida species isolated from women with vulvovaginal candidiasis","authors":"Shoorashetty Manohar Rudresh, Verma Nikhi, Pattacheravanda Nanaiah Shakuntala, Choudhary Hansraj, Bhaskaran Karthik, Nagarajasetty Tejaswini, Mandya Rudramurthy Shivaprakash","doi":"10.25259/jlp-2023-8-4-(1747)","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25259/jlp-2023-8-4-(1747)","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000The objective of this study was to study the occurrence of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) among women with vaginitis and to determine the antifungal susceptibility testing (AFST) pattern of Candida spp. isolated.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000A prospective study was conducted in a tertiary care setting. The two high vaginal swabs were collected and subjected to Gram’s stain, wet mount examination, and cultured on blood agar and sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol. The cultures were incubated at 37°C for 18–24 h. The Candida spp. was identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), and AFST was performed according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines M27-A3.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The data was collected in excel sheet. The qualitative variables are presented as frequencies and percentages. The quantitative variables are presented as mean with SD and median. p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Analysis will be done by using Epi InfoTM statistical software.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000A total of 961 women with symptoms of vaginitis were screened. Candida spp. was isolated in 108 (11.2%) patients. The median age of affected women was 29 years, and the majority belonged to 20–30 years (60.2%). Age <40 years was the significant risk factor (P = 0.016). Vaginal discharge was the most common complaint (82.4%),followed by itching (55.6%), vulvar edema, dyspareunia, and dysuria. Candida albicans was the predominant species (46.3%),followed by Candida glabrata (36.1%), Candida krusei (6.5%), and Candida tropicalis (6.5%). Ninety-six percentages of C. albicans were sensitive to fluconazole, while only 22.4% of non-albicans Candida spp (NAC) were susceptible. C. albicans showed 8% resistance to itraconazole and 8% intermediate resistance to caspofungin, whereas C. glabrata showed resistance to fluconazole, itraconazole, and caspofungin.\u0000\u0000\u0000\u0000The study showed a higher incidence of NAC and higher antifungal resistance leading to treatment failure. It is, hence, crucial to send fungal cultures, speciate, and perform AFST for all symptomatic patients of vulvo-vaginal candidiasis (VVC).\u0000","PeriodicalId":16149,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Laboratory Physicians","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2024-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140380290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}