Evaluation of six commercial tests and the germ-tube test for presumptive identification of Candida albicans

Six commercial tests (Albicans ID(R), bioMerieux, France; CandiSelect(R), S anofi Diagnostics Pasteur, France; CHROMagar(R) Candida, Becton Dickinson, USA; Fluoroplate(R) Candida, Merck, Germany; Fongiscreen(R) 4H, Sanofi Diag nostics Pasteur; and Murex Candida albicans, Murex Diagnostics, USA) and th e germ-tube test for presumptive identification of Candida albicans were ev aluated using clinical isolates of Candida albicans (n = 350) and of non-al bicans yeasts (n = 135). Sensitivities and specificities of all tests regar ding the identification of Candida albicans were greater than 97%. The two tests that also allow presumptive identification of some non-albicans yeast s (CHROMagar(R) Candida and Fongiscreen(R) 4H) did not identify all isolate s of Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis. In addition, CHROMagar(R) Can dida identified as Candida glabrata some isolates belonging to different sp ecies of non-albicans yeasts.