Candida krusei
On Sabouraud's dextrose agar colonies are white to cream colored, smooth, glabrous yeast-like colonies. Microscopic morphology shows predominantly small, elongated to ovoid budding yeast-like cells or blastoconidia, 2.0-5.5 x 4.0-15.0 um in size.
India Ink Preparation: Negative - no capsules present.
Dalmau Plate Culture on Cornmeal and Tween 80 Agar: Abundant long, wavy, branched pseudohyphae with elongated to ovoid blastoconidia, budding off in verticillate branches.
Physiological Tests:
Germ Tube test is Negative
Hydrolysis of Urea is Variable
Growth on Cycloheximide medium is Negative
Growth at 37C is Positive
Fermentation Reactions: Where fermentation means the production of gas and is independent of pH changes.
Positive: Glucose.
Negative: Sucrose; Lactose; Galactose; Maltose; Trehalose.
Assimilation Tests:
Positive: Glucose; Glycerol (delayed); DL-Lactic acid; Succinic acid.
Variable: L-Sorbose; Citric acid.
Negative: Potassium nitrate; Lactose; Ribitol; Galactose; Raffinose; Maltose; Cellobiose; D-Ribose (some positive); Sucrose; Melibiose; Galactitol; Trehalose; Erythritol; D-Mannitol; D-Xylose; Inositol; D-Glucitol; Soluble Starch; L-Rhamnose; Salicin; Melezitose; D-Arabinose; Arabinose.
MIC data is limited. Antifungal susceptibility testing of individual strains is recommended.
| Antifungal | MIC ug/mL | Antifungal | MIC ug/mL |
||
Range |
MIC90 |
Range |
MIC90 |
||
| Fluconazole | 0.25->128 |
64 |
Amphotericin B | 0.06->8 |
1 |
| Itraconazole | 0.03->8 |
0.5 |
Flucytosine | 0.5-64 |
16 |
| Posaconazole | 0.03-1 |
1 |
Caspofungin | 0.125->4 |
1 |
| Voriconazole | 0.03-4 |
0.5 |
Anidulafungin | 0.008-8 |
nd |
Clinical significance:
Candida krusei is regularly associated with some forms of infant diarrhoea and occasionally with systemic disease. It has also been reported to colonize the gastrointestinal, respiratory and urinary tracts of patients with granulocytopenia. Environmental isolations have been made from beer, milk products, skin, faeces of animals and birds and pickle brine
Mycosis: Candidiasis
Further reading:
Kreger-Van Rij, N.J.W. (ed) 1984. The Yeasts: a taxonomic study. 3rd Edition. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Rippon, J.W. 1988. Medical Mycology. 3rd Edition. W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, USA.
