While fluconazole is usually

active against Candida albicans, non-Candida albicans species often require more sophisticated approaches. A rapid species diagnosis is therefore desirable and can be provided by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). However, broad evaluation studies of described probes are largely lacking and the probe panel that has been described is incomplete. As an addition to previously described C. albicans FISH probes, we evaluated published DNA probes for C. glabrata and C. krusei, as well as newly Caspase phosphorylation designed DNA probes for C. krusei, C. lusitaniae, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, Crypotococcus neoformans and a group of intrinsically fluconazole-resistant Candida species for FISH with 22 reference strains, 23 well-characterised laboratory control strains, 169 isolates from clinical samples and 48 blood cultures. Sensitivity and specificity of >99% were demonstrated for all evaluated this website species-specific probes, whereas the probe that binds to a heterogeneous group of intrinsically fluconazole-resistant Candida species correctly identified eight of nine fluconazole-resistant clinical isolates. FISH yielded reliable results using the classical FISH procedure as well as a recently described slide chamber-based method. Given this good sensitivity and specificity, FISH may be applied for rapid identification of yeast in screening analyses, thus

giving the opportunity for more precise targeting of antimycotic therapy. “
“Candida

species are the fourth most common cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections. An increase in the frequency of infections, which have become refractory to standard antifungal therapy, has been observed. Recent studies have shown that the pro-oxidant properties of diphenyl diselenide (PhSe)2, a structurally simple organoselenium compound, can be toxic to yeast. The objective of this work was to study, under non-reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating conditions, the effect of different organochalcogenide GPX6 compounds [(PhSe)2, (PhTe)2, (MeOPhSe)2, (p-Cl-PhSe)2 and (F3CPhSe)2] on growth and germ tube formation by Candida albicans. A decrease in C. albicans growth in the presence of crescent concentrations of (PhSe)2, (PhTe)2 and (MeOPhSe)2 was observed. The organochalcogenide compound concentration needed to inhibit 50% (IC50) of the Candida growth was 0.5–2 and 2–10 μmol l−1, at a cell density of 105 and 106 cells ml−1, respectively. The compounds (p-Cl-PhSe)2 and (F3CPhSe)2 were able to inhibit the cell growth, although the inhibition was considerably weaker than that by (PhSe)2, (PhTe)2 and (MeOPhSe)2. In Candida suspensions incubated in a medium containing serum as an inducer of germ tube formation, the presence of either (PhSe)2 or (MeOPhSe)2 at 10 μmol l−1 completely inhibited the number of cells which formed germ tubes. These results demonstrate the potential of organochalcogenide compounds to inhibit both C.