Biofilm integrity and cytomorphology of Candida albicans after exposure to UV-light on ZnO thin films: SEM Analysis

Abstract

Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen known as a potential source of infection in the hospital environment [3]. Besides antimicrobial resistance, this microorganism has different pathogenic factors that allow survival on surfaces as well as in organic tissues, and part of this mechanism is the ability of changing from a yeast cell to hyphae and pseudohyphae structures [3, 6]. Intrahospital infections of Candida albicans are reported to have a mortality rate in immunocompromised patients of 40 to 50% [3, 5] and this figure can increase to 72% in countries with less efficient healthcare systems [7], furthermore, new species of Candida are being reported to emerge as new pathogens in this group of patients [4]. Because of the impact of hospital adapted pathogens in the health care systems, the development of new strategies of disinfection to prevent the spread of infections should be considered top priority. A suggested strategy is the use of photocatalytic coatings consisting in metal oxides, which are being tested as potential antimicrobial technology [1] with promising results. The present work is focused in the analysis of the effect of UV-light to disinfect Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin films inoculated with C. albicans from the SEM analysis perspective.