The authors studied the killer effect of nine standard strains of yeasts on 146 samples of Candida albicans isolated from the following clinical specimens: oral mucosa, feces, bronchial wash, sputum, vaginal secretion, urine, skin lesion, nail lesion and blood. Using this system it was possible to differentiate 23 biotypes of Candida albicans. The biotypes 211, 111 and 811 were most frequently isolated. Most of the samples of C. albicans (98.6%) were sensitive to at least one or more of the nine killer strains. Using the killer system it was possible to show that two patients harbored the same killer biotypes, 111 and 211, respectively, in different clinical specimens and another patient harbored the same biotype (211) in blood cultures effected in different ocasions. The utilization of the killer system to differentiate types among species of pathogenic yeasts can be a useful method to stablish the eventual source of infection, and it is a valuable tool to control and watch for nosocomial infections caused by yeasts.
Killer system; Biotyping; Candida albicans; Epidemiology