The molecular detection for Candida dublinienesis is used for the immediate, with high specificity and sensitivity laboratory diagnosis of the fungus (yeast) in various biological materials. Molecular testing for Candida dublinienesis is included in the 14 different species of Yeast-like Fungi, Molecular Detection MycoScreen™.
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There is a high interest in Candida species other than Candida albicans because of the rise and the epidemiological shifts in candidiasis. These emerging Candida species are favored by the increase of immunocompromised patients and the use of new medical practices. Most oropharyngeal candidiasis can be found are observed in those HIV-infected patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Candida dubliniensis is a recently described opportunistic pathogen that is closely related to C. albicans but differs from it with respect to epidemiology, certain virulence characteristics, and the ability to develop fluconazole resistance in vitro. C. dubliniensis has been linked to oral candidiasis in AIDS patients, although it has recently been associated with invasive disease. C. dubliniensis shares diagnostic characteristics with C. albicans, such as germ tube- and chlamydospore-production, and it is generally misclassified as C. albicans by standard diagnostic procedures. However, many authors consider that standard methods for differentiation of Candida species are time-consuming, often insensitive, and can fail to distinguish C. dubliniensis. To overcome these low sensitivity, poor specificity, and intolerable delay drawbacks, molecular tools have been developed to discriminate C. dubliniensis, particularly those based on the polymerase chain reaction.
Although preliminary studies indicate that most strains of C. dubliniensis are susceptible to established antifungal agents, fluconazole-resistant strains have been detected. Furthermore, fluconazole-resistant strains are easily derived in vitro.
Candida dubliniensis characteristics
- The causative agent of oropharyngeal candidiasis in HIV-infected and patients with cystic fibrosis (especially with steroid drugs therapy, cystic fibrosis-associated diabetes mellitus, and prolonged antibiotic therapy)
- Associated with vulvovaginal candidiasis in non-immunosuppressed patients
- Associated with the development of eye infections (dacryocystitis and endophthalmitis)
- Rarely associated with invasive candidiasis in adults
