Candida albicans colony identification in 5 minutes in a general microbiology laboratory.

A total of 381 fully identified yeast isolates were tested by the germ tube (GT) and Albistrip (Lab M Ltd., Bury, United Kingdom) methods, and the results were compared. As a test system for the identification of Candida albicans, the Albistrip showed two false-positive and two false-negative results, whereas the GT showed seven false-negative and no false-positive results. With the same methods, 736 yeast isolates from clinical samples were tested in a laboratory that did not specialize in mycology. In this second experiment, when the results of the tests disagreed, further identification was carried out with the API 20C Yeast Identification System (API-Biomerieux Ltd., Vercieu, France). When the statistics of the first experiment were used to justify the results, this second experiment showed the Albistrip to be 98% sensitive and 98% specific, whereas the GT was 98% sensitive and 95% specific.