Abstract

Objective: To compare genotypes of Candida albicans strains causing different conditions of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) in Chinese women.

Methods: C. albicans strains were isolated from the vagina of patients with different conditions of VVC. The genotypes of the strains were investigated based on single-strand conformation polymorphisms (SSCP) of PCR amplified microsatellite CAI.

Results: A total of 93 independent C. albicans strains were isolated from the patients with mild-to-moderate (n = 37) or severe (n = 56) VVC. Thirty of the patients enrolled suffered recurrent VVC (RVVC). Twenty-six distinct genotypes tentatively designated as A to Z were identified from the 93 C. albicans strains compared based on their CAI SSCP patterns. The majority (72.0%) of the strains possessed genotypes A to D which were similar in the CAI SSCP profiles and were designated as the dominant genotypes. The overall frequencies of the four dominant genotypes were 87.5% (49/56) and 48.6% (18/37) (p < 0.001) in the C. albicans strains from the patients with severe and mild-to-moderate VVC, respectively. The strains with the dominant genotypes occupied 83.3% (25/30) and 66.7% (42/63) (p = 0.094) in the C. albicans strains from the patients with RVVC and sporadic VVC, respectively.

Conclusion: The frequency of C. albicans strains with the dominant genotypes (A to D) from the patients with severe VVC was significantly higher than that from the patients with mild-to-moderate VVC, implying that the CAI genotype distribution of C. albicans strains correlates with severity of VVC.