2026-06-01T01:26:37Zhttps://docta.ucm.es/rest/oai/request

oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/725062023-07-13T02:26:14Zcom_20.500.14352_14col_20.500.14352_15

Incidence of Candidemia Is Higher in COVID-19 versus Non-COVID-19 Patients, but Not Driven by Intrahospital Transmission Machado, Marina Estévez, Agustín Sánchez Carrillo, Carlos Guinea, Jesús Escribano, Pilar Alonso Fernández, Roberto Valerio, Maricela Padilla, Belén Bouza, Emilio Muñoz, Patricia COVID-19 candidemia viral–fungal coinfection epidemiology risk factors invasive fungal infection invasive candidiasis Enfermedades infecciosas Inmunología Salud pública (Medicina) 3205.05 Enfermedades Infecciosas 2412 Inmunología 3212 Salud Pública There is scarce information on the actual incidence of candidemia in COVID-19 patients. In addition, comparative studies of candidemia episodes in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients are heterogeneous. Here, we assessed the real incidence, epidemiology, and etiology of candidemia in COVID-19 patients, and compared them with those without COVID-19 (2020 vs. 2019 and 2020, respectively). We also genotyped all C. albicans, C. parapsilosis, and C. tropicalis isolates (n = 88), causing candidemia in both groups, providing for the first time a genotypic characterization of isolates gathered in patients with either COVID-19 or non-COVID-19. Incidence of candidemia was higher in patients with COVID-19 than non-COVID-19 (4.73 vs. 0.85 per 1000 admissions; 3.22 vs. 1.14 per 10,000 days of stay). No substantial intergroup differences were found, including mortality. Genotyping proved the presence of a low number of patients involved in clusters, allowing us to rule out rampant patient-to-patient Candida transmission. The four patients, involved in two clusters, had catheter-related candidemia diagnosed in the first COVID-19 wave, which demonstrates breaches in catheter management policies occurring in such an overwhelming situation. In conclusion, the incidence of candidemia in patients with COVID-19 is significantly higher than in those without COVID-19. However, genotyping shows that this increase is not due to uncontrolled intrahospital transmission. Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)/FEDER Miguel Servet contract Depto. de Medicina Fac. de Medicina TRUE pub 2023-06-22T12:27:04Z 2023-06-22T12:27:04Z 2022-03-16 journal article https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/72506 2309-608X 10.3390/jof8030305 eng PI18/01155, PI19/00074, and PI20/00575 CPII20/00015 Atribución 3.0 España https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access application/pdf MPDI