Theodoro, Raquel CordeiroCastro, Maria da Conceição Alexandre2017-05-312017-05-312017-02-22CASTRO, Maria da Conceição Alexandre. Ocorrência de espécies do complexo Candida parapsilosis em amostras biológicas de pacientes e profissionais de hospitais do Natal/RN. 2017. 77f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Biologia Parasitária) - Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, 2017.https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/23299Candida non-Candida albicans species, as Candida parapsilosis complex (C. parapsilosis stricto sensu, C. orthopsilosis and C. metapsilosis) is the most frequent in systemic infections, being found in hands of health professionals, biomaterials and infusions as the main sources of nosocomial infection. These species may present difference in the virulence and antifungal susceptibility profiles, the species-specific diagnosis contribute for the most suitable therapeutic choice. The aim of this research was to compare the occurrence of Candida parapsilosis species and other Candida species in biological samples, for the first time in the state of Rio Grande do Norte/RN, Brazil. Yeast isolated from clinical samples were provided by LACEN-RN and Centro de Patologia Clínica de Natal/RN, and yeast isolates from health professionals, from the ICU of Giselda Trigueiro and Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel hospitals, were obtained by cultured samples from hands and buccal mucosa, among august 2015 to september 2015. The species identification was previously performed by Vitek equipment and alternatively by Chromagar, ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequencing or PCR of the VMA intein (for distinguishing among the species from C. parapsilosis complex). Among the 163 clinical isolates, C. albicans 88 (54%), C. tropicalis 28 (17%), C. parapsilosis complex 23 (14%) and C. glabrata 12 (7%) were the most prevalent species. Regarding the health professionals, there was growth of Candida genus in 24 of the 196 samples of hands and mouth, of which 10 (5%) were C. albicans, 9 (4%) C. parapsilosis, 3 (2%) C. tropicalis and 2 (1%) C. glabrata. Among C. parasilosis complex species, C. parapsilosis stricto sensu was the most frequent species in samples from health professionals, as well as in clinical samples. Our research shows that C. albicans is still the most prevalent species among clinical samples, but the increase of C. parapsilosis infections is increasing and may be related to its frequency (almost as high as C. albicans) in health professionals as a source of nosocomial infection. The evaluation of the antifungal susceptibility profile of the different species of the C. parapsilosis complex studied did not show marked differences for amphotericin B and 5-flucytosine, while C. orthopsilosis was more sensitive to itraconazole than C. parapsilosis and C. metapsilosis.Acesso AbertoCandida sppComplexo Candida parapsilosisRio Grande do NorteBrasilAmostras clínicasAmostras de profissionais de UTImasterThesisCNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS: BIOLOGIA PARASITÁRIA