摘要：Vaginal yeast infectionsareone of the most widespread infection diseases among women. The present study is focused on the taxonomic composition, antifungal resistance,and some virulence factors of Candidastrainsisolated from samples of outpatients. During one year period from April 2016 to March 2017 the 97Candidaspp. strains were collected from vaginal, cervical,and urethral secrets of outpatients at IMDL “Chronolab” Plovdiv. The majority of isolates were identified as C. albicans(84%), followed by Candida glabrata(7%), Candida krusei(4%), Candidaparapsilosis(3%),and Candidatropicalis(2%)and the most affected age group is women between 21 and 40 years old. Antifungal resistance was low and mainly associated with C. glabrata,with totalsusceptibility to the tested antifungal drugsover 95%. Analysis of the hydrolytic enzyme activitiesand the biofilm formation abilities showed that only 8% of the strains produced gelatinase and phospholipase, 6% produced caseinase,and 5% esterase. Seven of the tested Candidastrains(7.2%)formed stable biofilm after 24 h cultivation inSabouraud dextrose brothsupplemented with 6% glucose.This study revealed no significant correlation between the antifungal susceptibility and thestudied virulence factorsof Candida spp. isolates from the genital tract of outpatients.
