COMPARATIVE-EVALUATION OF MACRODILUTION AND CHROMOGENIC AGAR SCREENING FOR DETERMINING FLUCONAZOLE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CANDIDA-ALBICANS

A simple screening method for fluconazole susceptibility using CHROMag ar Candida with fluconazole,vas compared with the National Committee f or Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) macrobroth method. In this ag ar dilution method, susceptible Candida albicans colonies are smaller on medium,vith fluconazole than on fluconazole-free medium. Yeasts wit h decreased susceptibility have normal-sized colonies on medium contai ning fluconazole. On agar with 16 mu g of fluconazole per mi, 32 of 34 strains with NCCLS MICs of greater than or equal to 16 mu g/ml were c orrectly predicted, as were 66 of 68 with MICs of <16, an agreement of 96%. On agar with 8 mu g of fluconazole per mi, 38 of 41 isolates wit h MICs of greater than or equal to 8 were correctly predicted, as were 59 of 61 isolates with MICs of <8, an agreement of 95%. This agar dil ution method appears to highly correlate with NCCLS macrobroth methods for detection of C. albicans and may be an effective screen for fluco nazole susceptibility.