Clonal and spontaneous origins of fluconazole resistance in Candida albicans

The genotypes and susceptibilities to fluconazole of 78 strains of the human pathogenic yeast Candida albicans were compared. The strains comprised two sets of samples from Durham, N.C.: one from patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the other from healthy volunteers. For each strain, the MIC of fluconazole was determined by the standard National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards protocol. Genotypes were determined by PCR fingerprinting with five separate primers. The analysis revealed little evidence for genotypic clustering according to HIV status or body site. However, a small group of fluconazole-resistant strains isolated from patients infected with HIV formed a distinct cluster. In addition, two fluconazole-resistant strains were isolated from individuals who never took fluconazole, one from a patient infected with HIV and the other from a healthy person. The results suggest both clonal and spontaneous origins of fluconazole resistance in C. albicans.