Invasive fungal infections, such as candidiases, represent a public health problem of major importance. Candida species are commensal micro-organisms that become pathogenic when the defence mechanisms of the host are weakened, and these organisms then have the ability to cause a variety of superficial and systemic infections. In the past twenty years, Candida species are responsible for around 80% of fungal infections in the hospital environment. Although most cases of candidiases have been attributed to Candida albicans, more recently, non-albicans Candida species, such as Candida krusei, Candida glabrata and Candida parapsilosis have been identified as frequent human pathogens [1,2]. The first event in Candida infection is its adherence of the organism to host and/or medical-device surfaces, often leading to the formation of biofilm [3,5]. The formation of Candida biofilms carries important clinical repercussions because of their increased resistance to antifungal therapy and the ability of cells within biofilms to withstand host immune [7,9]. Hence, device-related infections are difficult to treat, and affected devices often need to be removed, which can be hazardous for some patients [10]. It is therefore important to focus attention on how to prevent and control biofilm formation in such applications.

The aim of our study is to provide better understanding on adhesion behaviors of Candida species to stainless steel surfaces, material typical for medical devices. The factors considered here are medium composition, growth temperature and roughness of stainless steel surface.