Rapid detection of susceptibility to fluconazole in Candida species by a bioluminescence assay of intracellular ATP.

Infections with Candida albicans and Candida species and antifungal resistance are increasingly recognized. The detection of fluconazole resistance is indispensable. We, therefore, compared two rapid methods that use commercially available test kits with the proposed standard of the NCCLS for fluconazole testing. When strains of Candida albicans and Candida species susceptible or resistant to fluconazole were used, measurement of ATP content was superior to the other test because an excellent correlation was obtained already after 5 hours of incubation. The measurement of the metabolic reduction of XTT yielded comparable results, but 24 hours of incubation were necessary.