"Room temperature" use of CHROMagar Candida.

The color of colonies of 9 Candida species was examined on the chromogenic medium CHROMagar Candida incubated for 24-72 h at 25 degrees C, 30 degrees C or 37 degrees C. Colors and colony forms characteristic of C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, C. krusei and C. tropicalis were formed most rapidly and with the deepest hues at 37 degrees C. After 48 h incubation at 25 degrees C, 9 of 48 C. albicans isolates gave pink colonies instead of the green colonies characteristic for the species, and the blue-purple colony color characteristic of C. tropicalis isolates was not formed until 48 h at 25 degrees C. Incubation of the chromogenic medium at temperatures below 30 degrees C cannot be recommended for reliable presumptive identification of Candida spp., and pink colonies of C. glabrata would not be reliably distinguished from pink colonies formed by other species under any of the incubation conditions used.