Isolation of Candida albicans among HIV Patients Presenting with Oral Thrush in Abuja, Nigeria

Background: Candida infections are known contributors to the high morbidity and mortality rates seen in HIV positive patients.

Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study was carried out at the Microbiology research laboratory, department of Medical Microbiology, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada. The population is made up of two hundred and ten (210) patients who presented with oral thrush between fifteen years and seventy years which comprises of 160 HIV seropositive and 50 non age and sex matched HIV seronegative patients. Culture, Microscopy and ELISA methods were used for isolation of Candida albicans. An interviewer-administered, structured questionnaire was used as the study tool.

Results: The mean age for the isolation of Candida albicans was 30 ± 18.7 years, with the highest proportion of isolates within the age range of 21-30 years accounting for 27.1% of the study population recruited and the lowest proportion of isolates being 41-50 years accounting for 8.0%. From the 210 subjects with Candida albicans in the study, one hundred and sixty (160) representing 76.2 were isolated from HIV seropositive clients and Candida albicans isolation rate among HIV seronegative population was 23.8%.

Conclusion: The sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of using Grams reaction methods in the diagnosis of Candida albicans was 22.9%, 95.2% and 82.6%. The sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of using ELISA methods was 25.7%, 86.7% and 65.9%. In this study, there was preponderance of Candida albicans isolate among the young and the old in HIV seropositive patients but largely isolated from older patients among HIV seronegative patients.