Rapid identification of yeast isolates from clinical specimens in critically ill trauma ICU patients.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

The purpose was to evaluate the performance of a commercially available chromogenic Candida speciation media and the Vitek 2 ID system for the identification of medically important yeasts and yeast-like organisms in a routine clinical microbiology laboratory.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A total of 429 non duplicate, consecutive yeast strains were included during the 3.5-year study period. The performance of the Vitek 2 ID system and a chromogenic agar medium was evaluated against the gold standard conventional phenotypic and biochemical identification method for speciation of yeast isolates from trauma patients.

RESULTS:

Candida tropicalis (64%) was the most common Candida species, followed by Candida albicans (14%), Candida rugosa (7%), and Candida parapsilosis (6.5%). Of the 429 isolates, 183 could be identified to species level by all the three methods. Agreement between the chromogenic agar method and conventional methods was 80% for Candida tropicalis, 100% for Candida rugosa, 89% for Candida albicans, and 77% for Candida parapsilosis. Vitek 2 had lower sensitivity, with agreement of 49% for Candida tropicalis, 100% for Candida rugosa, 39% for Candida albicans, and 31% for Candida parapsilosis.

CONCLUSION:

Thus, in long-term ICU patients, an increasing trend of isolating nonalbicans Candida spp. continues. The chromogenic agar medium is a convenient and economic method to identify commonly isolated species in busy clinical microbiology laboratories.

• Authors: Neetu Jain, Purva Mathur, Mahesh Chandra Misra, Bijayini Behera, Immaculata Xess, Satya Priya Sharma
• Journal: Journal of laboratory physicians (J Lab Physicians) Vol. 4 Issue 1 Pg. 30-4 (Jan 2012) ISSN: 0974-7826 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 22923919 (Publication Type: Journal Article)