en Infectious Diseases Infectious Diseases Original Article Original Article <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><strong><em>Background: </em></strong></span>Systemic candidiasis is a major complication in neutropenic cancer patients undergoing treatment. Most systemic fungal infections emerge from endogenous microflora so the aim of the present study was to identify <em>Candida</em> species isolated from the different regions of body&nbsp;&nbsp; in neutropenic patients in compare with the control group.</span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><strong><em>Methods:</em></strong></span> A total of 309 neutropenic cancer patients and 584 patients without cancer (control group) entered in the study. Molecular identification of clinical isolates was performed by PCR-RFLP technique.</span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><strong><em>Results:</em></strong></span> Twenty-two out of 309 patients had candidiasis (7.1%). Male to female ratio was 1/1 and age ranged from 23 to 66 years. Colorectal cancer and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were the most common cancers. <em>Candida albicans</em> was the most prevalent <em>Candida </em>species among neutropenic patients (50%) and control group (57.9%). Mortality rate in cancer patients was 13.6% in comparison with control group (5.2%).</span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><strong><em>Conclusion:</em></strong></span> Since candidiasis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in neutropenic patients, precise identification of <em>Candida</em> species by molecular techniques can be useful for the appropriate selection of antifungal drugs particularly in high risk patients.</span></p> Candidiasis, Neutropenic patients, Candida species, Identification 71 77 http://caspjim.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-329-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Rasoul Mohammadi dr.rasoul_mohammadi@yahoo.com 10031947532846005276 10031947532846005276 Yes Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Elham Foroughifar dr.foroughifar@yahoo.com 10031947532846005277 10031947532846005277 No Department of Infectious Diseases, Al-Zahra hospital, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran