Chromogenic medium versus PCR–RFLP in the speciation of Candida: a comparative study

OBJECTIVE: Candida species is implicated in a wide array of clinical infections. Speciation of Candida strains is of prime importance in the epidemiological survey and laboratory diagnosis as there is an upswing of antifungal resistance and changing trends in the antifungal resistance pattern among C. albicans and non albicans Candida. Varied phenotypic methods are available for the identification of Candida species which vary in principles and cost factors. Chromogenic agar medium (HiCrome Candida differential agar) is one of the preferred phenotypic methods in limited resource laboratories. Hence, this study was aimed to assess the reliability of HiCrome Candida differential agar, M1297A (HiMedia) in the identification of Candida species compared polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP). Oral Candida isolates (n = 194) were inoculated onto HiCrome Candida differential agar and the potential of Candida differential Agar was compared with PCR–RFLP. RESULTS: The results were not in agreement with PCR–RFLP. Percentage of disagreement was 40.2, 50.0, 100.0 and 25.0 for Candida albicans, Candida krusei, Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis respectively. PCR–RFLP demonstrated a very high discriminatory power in the identification of Candida species compared to agar.