TY - JOUR AU - Shekhany, Khattab Ahmed Mustafa PY - 2021/04/27 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Isolation and genotyping of Candida albicans involved in vaginal candidiasis among pregnant women in Sulaymaniyah and Erbil cities JF - Zanco Journal of Medical Sciences (Zanco J Med Sci) JA - Zanco J Med Sci VL - 25 IS - 1 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.15218/zjms.2021.012 UR - https://zjms.hmu.edu.krd/index.php/zjms/article/view/829 SP - 493-502 AB - <p><strong>Background and objective:</strong> Vaginal candidiasis is a common infection among pregnant women. The current study aimed to investigate the etiologic species of vaginal candidiasis and the genotypes of <em>C. albicans</em> isolated from vaginal samples among pregnant women in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Vaginal swabs were collected from pregnant women admitted to the Maternity hospital in Sulaymaniyah and Erbil cities from March 2016 to December 2018. <em>Candida </em>isolates were identified on CHROMagar medium, then confirmed with PCR depending on ITS region. All <em>C. albicans</em> isolates were confirmed using chitin synthase gene (CHS1) and subjected to genotypic analysis based on the transposable intron in 25S rDNA with using CA25S and CA-INT primers. DNA sequencing of 25S rDNA region was done by using CA and CA-INT primers.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among 340 women tested, 114 (33.53%) were positive for vaginal candidiasis. Five <em>Candida</em> species were identified, where they are <em>C. albicans</em> (56.14%),<em> C. glabrata</em> (24.56%),<em> C. kefyr</em> (11.40%),<em> C. tropicalis</em> (5.27%) and <em>C. krusei</em> (2.63%). It has been found that <em>C. albicans</em> significantly (<em>P </em>&lt;0.01) higher than non-<em>albicans</em> species. The genotypes A (450 bp), B (840 bp), and C (450 and 840 bp) of <em>C. albicans</em> were detected. The Genotype A (54.69%) was the most prevalent, followed by Genotype B (34.38%) and Genotype C (10.94%). In regards to genetic variation, genotypes A and B were more similar compared to genotype C.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The current study revealed a high prevalence of vaginal candidiasis with different genotypes of <em>C. albicans</em> among pregnant women. Therefore, it is worth considering a vaginal swab culture with clinical symptoms during the diagnosis of vaginal candidiasis.</p> ER -