In recent years, fungal infections are on the rise, due to various predisposing factors, such as
patients on steroids, long term administration of antibiotics, HIV infection and many of them
have basic pulmonary diseases like tuberculosis, which may also alter the course of the disease.
Hence this study was undertaken to find out the prevalence of Candida species in cases of
pulmonary tuberculosis. One hundred diagnosed cases of pulmonary tuberculosis were included
in the study, from August 2006 – August 2007. Sputum samples were processed by KOH
10% preparation, Gram’s staining, Nigrosin (10%) staining, and were cultured on Sabouraud’s
Dextrose agar (SDA) slants. The Candida species were isolated and diagnosed by standard
mycological procedures. Out of the 100 cases studied, significant growth of Candida species
was present in 26 cases (26%), the commonest isolates were Candida albicans (24%), followed
by Candida tropicalis and Candida parapsilosis in one case each.