Abstract
Author(s): Murtadha H. AL-JANABI*, Khudhair Al-Ameri, Yas A, Ali Abdul Hamza Helal, Hashim R Tarish, Abdul Hadi Sallal Mohmammed, Jawad. M. Ismail
Background: A vaginal yeast infection, otherwise known as vaginal candidiasis, is a fungal infection that is characterized by irritation, discharge and itching of the vagina and vulva. It is estimated that most people assigned female at birth will experience at least one vaginal yeast infection in their lifetime, with many individuals typically experiencing multiple infections. Aim: The study was designed to establish a catalogue of fungal species that cause infections in different patients, and to study their genes and compare them with standard types of fungus already known to science. Method: A total of 194 samples were collected from women who visited Al-Sadder Medical City in Al-Najaf province between January 2022 and March 2022. Results: 17 samples gave positive growth of yeasts which were blood samples 2 (11.7%) and urine samples 15 (88.2%). Chromagar Candida medium revealed that five species of Candida depending on color of colonies which were C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, C. albicans, and C. tropicalis and also unknown interesting yeast species with olive color. The results of alignment and distance phylogeny have been investigated for (A1) ITS2 region sequences, the strain (A1) strain found to be identical to Pseudozyma aphidis strain (HP1191), it is not detected with both PCR and chromagar identification. On the other hand, the results with ITS1 region revealed that (B1) strain found to be the nearest neighbor to P. aphidis strain (HP1191) with 86% identical. The present study, the first record of Basidiomycetious P. aphidis in Iraq using DNA sequencing of ITS1 and ITS2 regions. Conclusion: The DNA sequencing is the best method for identification of fungi compared with chromagar Candida medium test and PCR analysis.