Evaluation of the new API Candida system for identification of the most clinically important yeast species.

The API Candida system (bioMérieux) a new yeast identification system, was evaluated for its reliability in identifying 198 clinical yeast isolates in comparison with the API 20C system (bioMérieux) that was used as reference standard. The API Candida system correctly identified 91.4% and 71.7% of the isolates, with and without additional tests, respectively. The API Candida system identified 96.3% of common isolates studied, and 66.6% of uncommon isolates. We think that API Candida system is an easy and good yeast identification system and it could be used in a routine clinical microbiology laboratory.