Candida auris can persist for long periods on hospital surfaces and on the skin. C. auris has the ability to form drug-resistant biofilms, which can substantially impact on patient outcome. In comparison to Candida albicans, C. auris has a lower capacity to form biofilms in in vitro models and a higher capacity when tested on animal skin models. Intraspecies variation is shown to exist, with some clinical isolates having greater biofilm capabilities than others. There is a need for models that closely mimic the real niches where infection occurs on human patients. This protocol describes, in detail, a human skin model to study C. auris biofilm formation using catheterized and non-catheterized skin.
Keywords: Biofilm; Candida auris; Catheterized skin; Colony-forming units; Human skin model; Scanning electron microscopy sonication.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.