Identification and Antifungal Susceptibility Testing of Candida Species: A Comparison of Vitek-2 System with Conventional and Molecular Methods

BACKGROUND: Candida infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients; an accurate and early identification is a prerequisite need to be taken as an effective measure for the management of patients. The purpose of this study was to compare the conventional identification of Candida species with identification by Vitek-2 system and the antifungal susceptibility testing (AST) by broth microdilution method with Vitek-2 AST system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 172 Candida isolates were subjected for identification by the conventional methods, Vitek-2 system, restriction fragment length polymorphism, and random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis. AST was carried out as per the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute M27-A3 document and by Vitek-2 system. RESULTS: Candida albicans (82.51%) was the most common Candida species followed by Candida tropicalis (6.29%), Candida krusei (4.89%), Candida parapsilosis (3.49%), and Candida glabrata (2.79%). With Vitek-2 system, of the 172 isolates, 155 Candida isolates were correctly identified, 13 were misidentified, and four were with low discrimination. Whereas with conventional methods, 171 Candida isolates were correctly identified and only a single isolate of C. albicans was misidentified as C. tropicalis. The average measurement of agreement between the Vitek-2 system and conventional methods was >94%. Most of the isolates were susceptible to fluconazole (88.95%) and amphotericin B (97.67%). The measurement of agreement between the methods of AST was >94% for fluconazole and >99% for amphotericin B, which was statistically significant (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The study confirmed the importance and reliability of conventional and molecular methods, and the acceptable agreements suggest Vitek-2 system an alternative method for speciation and sensitivity testing of Candida species infections.