Objectives 
To investigate whether drug-resistant pathogenic yeasts exist on the surface of fruits.
Methods
Various fruits were purchased from supermarkets. Each type of fruits was washed with peptone water. After centrifugation, the supernatant was discarded and the pellet was re-suspended with remaining solution. A total of 200 µl cell suspension was transferred onto CHROMagar candida medium and incubated at 25 degree Celsius for 2 days. The species was identified by rDNA sequence.
Results
First of all, 184 isolates, comprised of 55 species, from 22 different types of fruits in markets in Taiwan were recovered and characterized. Among them, 86 isolates, of 29 species, are reported to cause diseases in humans. They included Candida famata, Candida fermentati, Candida guilliermondii, Candida krusei, Candida orthopsilosis, Candida parapsilosis, Candida pelliculosa, Candida tropicalis, Trichosporon asahii, and 20 others. In addition to C. krusei, intrinsically resistant to fluconazole, all Rhodotorula and Rhodosporidium species were resistant to fluconazole. The two C. tropicalis isolates are, of respectively, of diploid sequence type (DST)149 and DST225, genotypes also detected in isolates from humans. Furthermore, the DST225 isolate was less susceptible to azole drugs. We further determined how many times we should wash the fruits to eliminate the yeasts. We purchased, lemon, mangos, melons, oranges, pears, and wax apple. We washed each type of fruits with peptone water for six times. We found that it is not enough to wash off microbes from fruits by buffer only. Moreover, yeasts on fruits with smooth surface, like mango, lemon or wax apple, were easier to be washed off than those on the fruits with rough surface.
Conclusion
It is important to be aware of the existence of pathogenic yeasts, especially drug resistant ones, on the fruit surfaces, a potential route for pathogenic yeasts to be transmitted to humans. Most importantly, we should be cautious when providing fruits and/or juice to severely immunocompromised patients.

2 / Fruits are Vehicles of Drug Resistant Pathogenic Yeasts