High prevalence of <i>Candida</i> species in the respiratory tract of patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2

Coinfection and secondary infection by fungi in patients with viral pulmonary infection, especially SARS-CoV-2, are important factors that worsen the prognosis and are associated to increased death rates. This work aims to report the prevalence of <i>Candida</i> isolates in bronchoalveolar and nasopharyngeal samples from suspected COVID-19 patients in the first-second pandemic waves and their antifungal resistance profile. From 2321 patients, 29.04% were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The yeast isolation rate of 6.97% (47/674) from positive SARS-CoV-2 was statistically higher than 4.43% (73/1647) from negative SARS-CoV-2 patients (<i>p</i> = 0.0177). Among yeasts, the most prevalent species was <i>Candida albicans</i> (63/120), with four being azole-resistant isolates (6.35%); however, other emerging and less susceptible species were also isolated, such as <i>Candida guilliermondii</i> (11), <i>Candida glabrata</i> (5), <i>Candida lusitaniae</i> (4), <i>Candida krusei</i> (1), and <i>Candida norvegensis</i> (1). Here, we highlighted <i>Candida</i> prevalence in respiratory tract, emphasizing the relevance for surveillance in SARS-CoV-2/COVID patients for improvement of management as well as patient outcomes.