Ja. Labarca et al., CRITICAL-EVALUATION OF 4-WEEK INCUBATION FOR FUNGAL CULTURES - IS THE4TH WEEK USEFUL, Journal of clinical microbiology (Print), 36(12), 1998, pp. 3683-3685
To determine the benefit of a 4-week incubation for mycology cultures,
we evaluated all positive cultures during the fourth week of incubati
on in a I-year period. Of 3,855 positive mycology cultures (yeast, 82%
; molds, 18%), 62 (1.6%) were positive during the fourth week (yeast,
42%; molds, 58%). Only 15 of the 62 cultures (24%) were considered cli
nically relevant (2 isolates from invasive fungal infection and 13 iso
lates from cutaneous mycosis). With the exception of those from skin s
amples, isolates recovered during the fourth week are rarely important
for patient care.