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Fungal
infections of the urinary tract primarily affect the bladder and
kidneys.
Species of Candida, the most common cause, are normal commensals in humans. Candida colonization differs from infection in that infection produces tissue reaction. All invasive fungi (eg, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus sp, Mucoraceae sp, Histoplasma
capsulatum, Blastomyces sp, Coccidioides
immitis) may infect the kidneys as part of systemic or disseminated mycotic infection (see Fungi: Introduction). Their presence alone indicates infection.
Lower UTI with Candida usually occurs with urinary catheters, typically after bacteriuria and antibiotic therapy, although candidal and bacterial infections frequently occur simultaneously. C.
albicans prostatitis occurs infrequently in patients with diabetes, usually after instrumentation.
Renal candidiasis is usually spread hematogenously and commonly originates from the GI tract. Ascending infection is possible and occurs mainly in patients with nephrostomy tubes, other permanent indwelling devices, and stents. At high risk are patients who are immunocompromised because of tumor, AIDS, chemotherapy, or immunosuppressants. A major source of candidemia in such high-risk hospitalized patients is an indwelling intravascular catheter. Renal transplantation increases the risk because of the combination of indwelling catheters, stents, antibiotics, anastomotic leaks, obstruction, and immunosuppressive therapy.
Complications of candidal infection can include emphysematous cystitis or pyelonephritis and fungus balls in the renal pelvis, ureter, or bladder. Bezoars may form in the bladder. Lower or upper tract obstruction may occur. Papillary necrosis and intrarenal and perinephric abscesses may form. Although renal function often declines, severe renal failure is rare without postrenal obstruction.
Symptoms and Signs
Most patients with candiduria are asymptomatic. Whether Candida can cause urethral symptoms (mild urethral itching, dysuria, watery discharge) in men is uncertain. Rarely, dysuria in women is caused by candidal urethritis, but it may result from the urine coming into contact with periurethral tissue that is inflamed due to candidal vaginitis.
Among lower UTIs, cystitis due to Candida may result in frequency, urgency, dysuria, and suprapubic pain. Hematuria is common, and, in patients with poorly controlled diabetes, pneumaturia due to emphysematous cystitis has occurred. Fungus balls or bezoars may produce symptoms of urethral obstruction.
With renal candidiasis that is hematogenously spread, most patients lack symptoms referable to the kidney but may have antibiotic-resistant fever, candiduria, and unexplained deteriorating renal function. Fungus ball elements in the ureter and renal pelvis frequently produce hematuria and urinary obstruction. Occasionally, papillary necrosis or intrarenal or perinephric abscesses produce pain, fever, hypertension, and hematuria. Patients may have manifestations of candidiasis in other sites (eg, CNS, skin, eyes, liver, spleen).
Diagnosis
Candida UTI is considered in patients with predisposing factors and symptoms suggesting UTI and in all patients with candidemia. Candida should be suspected in men with symptoms of urethritis only when all other causes of urethritis have been excluded.
Diagnosis of Candida UTI is by culture, usually from urine. The level at which candiduria reflects true Candida UTI and not merely colonization or contamination is unknown. Differentiating Candida colonization from infection requires evidence of tissue reaction. Cystitis is usually diagnosed in high-risk patients with candiduria by the presence of bladder inflammation or irritation, as evidenced by pyuria. Cystoscopy and ultrasonography of the kidney and bladder may help detect bezoars and obstruction.
Renal candidiasis is considered in patients with fever, candiduria, or passage of fungus balls. Severe renal failure suggests postrenal obstruction. Imaging of the urinary tract may help reveal the degree of involvement. Blood cultures for Candida are often negative.
Unexplained candiduria should prompt evaluation of urinary tract for structural abnormalities.
Treatment
Fungal colonization of catheters does not require treatment. Asymptomatic candiduria rarely requires therapy. Candiduria should be treated in symptomatic patients, neutropenic patients, and patients with renal allografts or those who are undergoing urologic manipulation. Urinary stents and Foley catheters should be removed (if possible). Treatment with fluconazole (200 mg po once/day for 7 to 14 days) and with IV amphotericin B (see Fungi: Antifungal Drugs) has been successful. In the absence of renal insufficiency, flucytosine (25 mg/kg po qid) may help eradicate candiduria due to non-albicans species of Candida; however, resistance may emerge rapidly when this compound is used alone. Bladder irrigation with amphotericin B may transiently clear candiduria but is rarely indicated. Even with apparently successful local or systemic antifungal therapy for candiduria, relapse is frequent, and this likelihood is increased by continued use of a urinary catheter.
In patients with renal candidiasis, IV amphotericin B and high-dose oral fluconazole (≥ 400 mg/day) are equally effective in the primary treatment of invasive infection with C. albicans and C.
tropicalis. Even when amphotericin B is used initially, oral fluconazole should be substituted early in the course of treatment. However, some less common Candida species are not susceptible to fluconazole .
Last full review/revision September 2007 by Stewart Shankel, MD
Content last modified September 2007
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