Evaluation of chromogenic media and seminested PCR in the identification of Candida species

Abstract

Identification of Candida cultured from various clinical specimens to the species level is increasingly necessary for clinical laboratories. Although sn PCR identifies the species within hours but its cost-effectiveness is to be considered. So there is always a need for media which help in the isolation and identification at the species level. The study aimed to evaluate the performance of different chromogenic media and to compare the effectiveness of the traditional phenotypic methods vs. seminested polymerase chain reaction (sn PCR) for identification of Candida species. One hundred and twenty seven Candida strains isolated from various clinical specimens were identified by conventional methods, four different chromogenic media and sn PCR. HiCrome Candida Differential and CHROMagar Candida media showed comparably high sensitivities and specificities in the identification of C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata and C. krusei. CHROMagar Candida had an extra advantage of identifying all C. parapsilosis isolates. CHROMagar-Pal’s medium identified C. albicans, C. tropicalis and C. krusei with high sensitivities and specificities, but couldn’t identify C. glabrata or C. parapsilosis. It was the only medium that identified C. dubliniensis with a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. Biggy agar showed the least sensitivities and specificities. The overall concordance of the snPCR compared to the conventional tests including CHROMAgar Candida in the identification of Candida species was 97.5%. The use of CHROMAgar Candida medium is an easy and accurate method for presumptive identification of the most commonly encountered Candida spp.

Oral yeast colonization in patients with primary and secondary Sjögren's syndrome

“…The CHROMAgar Candida medium is widely accepted as an accurate method for the presumptive identification of Candida spp. (Daef, Moharram, Eldin, Elsherbiny, & Mohammed, ; Hospenthal, Beckius, Floyd, Horvath, & Murray, ; Marinho et al., ; Murray, Beckius, Green, & Hospenthal, ). However, it presents limitations since it is not reliable to discriminate green color colonies as C. albicans or C. dubliniensis , as it is unable to identify white colony isolates.…”

“…The phylogenetic tree was constructed using the maximum-likelihood method and statistical significance measured by 1000 bootstrap replicates. Isolate sequence is named CCGM21 The NCBI access code of each sequence is showed in parenthesis Moharram, Eldin, Elsherbiny, & Mohammed, 2014;Hospenthal, Beckius, Floyd, Horvath, & Murray, 2006;Marinho et al, 2010;Murray, Beckius, Green, & Hospenthal, 2005). However, it presents limitations since it is not reliable to discriminate green color colonies as C. albicans or C. dubliniensis, as it is unable to identify white colony isolates.…”

Sensibilidade Do Laminocultivo Dermatobac® Para O Diagnóstico Da Endometrite Fúngica Em Éguas

“…O crescimento também foi acompanhado pela alteração da coloração do cultivo, passando de branco a marrom em virtude da redução do sulfito de bismuto presente no ágar Biggy, característica metabólica que auxilia na identificação das diferentes espécies de Candida (28) . De acordo com Iikit et al (26) , os sais de bismuto atuam como um agente inibidor, suprimindo o crescimento bacteriano e indiretamente estimulando o crescimento das colônias de Candida.…”

“…Dessa forma, mesmo na impossibilidade do diagnóstico citológico, a cultura em Dermatobac® pode ser utilizada para o diagnóstico conclusivo de endometrite fúngica em equinos. De acordo com Daef et al (28) , a rápida identificação de muitas espécies de fungos é dificultada em vários países pela falta de treinamento dos profissionais da saúde, além da falta de reagentes e equipamentos específicos para o diagnóstico. Dessa forma, a validação de métodos como o laminocultivo Dermatobac®, que permite o diagnóstico rápido, conclusivo e de baixo custo, possui alto potencial para implementação em Medicina Veterinária, permitindo a identificação de fungos patogênicos mesmo em condições de campo em 24 a 48 horas após a semeadura.…”

Efficacies of Echinocandins versus Azoles Antifungal agents in Management of Candidaalbicans andCandida dubliniensis

“…In recent years, DNA-based methods have been developed and proved to be excellent to diagnose Candida infections, especially methods of PCR and RAPD with high level of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy [26].…”