A. Paugam et al., Comparison of four commercialized biochemical systems for clinical yeast identification by colour-producing reactions, MED MYCOL, 37(1), 1999, pp. 11-17
We compared the ability of four commercially available yeast identification
systems for routine laboratory hospital use: Auxacolor(R) (AUX) (Sanofi Di
agnostics Pasteur, Marne-la-Coquette), Fungichrom(R) I (FUC) and Fungifast(
R) I Twin (FUF) (International Microbio, Toulon), Api Candida(R) (API) (bio
Merieux, Lyon). These systems are based on obtaining a biochemical profile
easily defined by colorimetric reactions. We tested 202 yeasts belonging to
19 species which were included or were not included in the manufacturer's
data base of the identification systems. Without extra tests, for all the o
rganisms tested, after 24h of incubation, the percentage of organisms corre
ctly identified was 48% for AUX, 75% for FUC, 77% for FUF and 81% for API.
However, if we consider the ratio of the number of correct identifications
without extra tests with the number of yeasts included in the manufacturers
' data bases (sensitivity) the results increased to 61% for AUX, 81% for FU
C, 91% for FUF and 83% for API. These systems are particularly well adapted
to medical use, they are simple to set up, interpret, and have very good e
fficiency for the yeasts most commonly isolated in clinical specimens. The
findings reported here indicate that the most favourable results were obtai
ned with FUF and API systems.