Fungurie nei pazienti ospedalizzati: indagine retrospettiva multicentrica

A multicenter retrospective survey of funguria was run at 6 Italian hospitals (Bergamo,Novara,Varese, Florence, Ancona, Pescara) from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2002. The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence of recovery of yeasts from urine cultures, the distribution among the hospital wards, the involved species and the number of patients with concurrent fungemia and funguria. Microorganisms (either bacteria or yeasts) were isolated from the 21% of urine cultures: overall, 2% of them were positive for yeasts, whereas 19% for bacteria.Yeasts were recovered from the 8% of the positive urine cultures. Yeasts in the urine were mostly observed in Intensive Care Units (24% of positive urine cultures), and less frequently in Medical and Surgical wards. Candida albicans was the most frequently recovered species (63%), followed by C. glabrata (18%), C. tropicalis (9%), C. parapsilosis (3%); other Candida species, Trichosporon asahii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were occasionally isolated, whereas moulds were never recovered. Overall, 5% of patients (55/1119) with funguria had concurrent fungemia and in 41 cases the same species was recovered from both urine and blood. C. albicans was the most frequently recovered species, followed by C. glabrata, C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis.