DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2014.v02i02.010

Pages: 124-131

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is caused by various species of the yeast genus Candida which may require different drugs for therapy. The objective of this study was to rapidly identify non-albicans Candida species among yeast isolates from women attending a clinic in Temeke, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Initial screening for Candida albicans was done using a nested PCR approach in a previous study. Eight non-albicans yeast isolates remained and were subjected to multiplex PCR targeting the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA region. One isolate with ambiguous Multiplex PCR results was subjected to further PCR of the D1/D2 domain of the 26S rDNA region followed by sequencing. Three isolates were identified as C. glabrata and four were identified as C. tropicalis by Multiplex PCR. The identity of the isolate unresolved by Multiplex PCR was confirmed by Blastn searches to be C. parapsilosis and a neighbor joining phylogenetic tree reconstruction positioned this isolate in the same clade with C. parapsilosis isolated elsewhere. Multiplex PCR is a fast and reliable method for identification of pathogenic Candida species. Women being attended for recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis in Tanzania can easily benefit by getting specific treatments especially when antifungal resistant species like C. glabrata are suspected.