Candida colonisation of the respiratory system is poorly understood, as is its therapeutic treatment. The prevalence of Candida species in the lower respiratory tract in hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients (HSCT) undergoing bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage for pneumonitis following HSCT is currently reported. Between 2000 and 2012, the University of Michigan Clinical Microbiology Laboratory Database was searched for all respiratory cultures positive for Candida species. Between 2001 and 2012, researchers conducted a retrospective examination of 515 HSCT patients with pneumonitis at our institution. There were 2524 distinct Candida isolates discovered during the course of a 12-year span. There were 127 HSCT individuals who were culture positive for a fungal infection among the 515 HSCT patients with suspected pneumonitis, with Candida species identified in 27 instances. Those cultured positives for Candida showed a considerably higher death rate when compared to other HSCT participants. Candida sp. is often cultured from the respiratory tracts of HSCT recipients, and individuals who are infected have a higher death rate.
While evidence for antifungal therapy of Candida species colonisation is lacking, the presence of the yeast may be beneficial as a proxy indication of disease severity.
