Prevalence of candida SSP in oral mucosa and dentures of institutionalized elderly

Candida is usually an opportunistic fungal pathogen and can cause local and systemic mycoses in predisposed people, commonly affecting immunocompromised patients and those undergoing prolonged antibiotic treatment. About 150 species of Candida have been recognized, out of them C. albicans is one of the most pathogenic species and it causes candidiasis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Candida ssp in the oral mucosa and dentures of elderly residents in a philanthropic institution in Cascavel-PR. The sample consisted of 30 elderly people. The palatine mucosa and the upper prosthesis were scraped with swab, and in its absence, the recommended collection region was the tongue. Samples were seeded in CHROM ID agar Candida® to identify Candida ssp and incubated at 30ºC for 72 hours. The results were that 60% of the sample was positive. On the palate the growth in relation to the total sample was 23.33%, on the tongue 50% and on the total prosthesis 68.75%. Of the total sample, 11 patients (36.66%) had positive growth for two or more species, of these, 6 had C. albicans and C. glabrata as the most prevalent. It was observed that more than half of the sample presented growth of Candida spp. Regarding the species found in this study, C. glabrata was the most prevalent species.