Abstract

The purpose of this study was to morphologically and biochemically characterize Candida spp. isolated from the crop of parrots and to detect possible virulence factors, with the objective of associating the yeasts with the clinical signs presented by the birds. The samples (acquired by the introduction of a urethral catheter into the esophagus of the birds) were seeded onto Petri dishes containing Sabouraud agar dextrose augmented with chloramphenicol (100 mg/ml) and incubated at 37°C for 7 days. The isolates were studied regarding macro- and micromorphology, using gram-stained smears, germ tubes, pseudohyphae and/or hyphae production. Biochemical identification in genus and species was performed using kit API 20C AUX Bio-Mérieux. Twenty-five strains of the Candida sort were isolated, and five species of the genus were identified, being 28.0% C. humicola, 24.0% C. parapsilosis, 20.0% C. guilliermondii, 20.0% C. famata and 8.0% C. albicans. The demonstrated results were surprising since the literature available until then showed C. albicans as the most frequent species, and C. guilliermondii, C. famata and C. humicola had not been isolated from the crop of parrots.