Candidemia in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Jammu (J and K) - A Comparison of Conventional Methods and CHROMagar Technique for Speciation

Candida species are one of the most common causes of fungal infections leading both to non-life threatening and even life threatening invasive diseases. Candida species are the third most common cause of central line health care associated bloodstream infections. Recently, non albicans Candida species are increasingly being isolated from blood samples. In view of both inherent and acquired resistance of some of the Candida species to anti fungals, early speciation is desired for the timely initiation of appropriate anti-fungal therapy. The conventional methods of identification are time consuming and very difficult to perform. The prospective study was done to evaluate the performance of conventional identification methods (phenotypic) and commercially available Chromogenic Candida agar (CHROMagar) for the identification of Candida. A total of 52 yeasts were included in our study. The conventional methods used for speciation of yeast isolates were germ tube test, chlamydospores formation on corn meal agar and were compared against chromogenic agar medium (CHROM agar). Candida krusei (44.23 %) was the most common Candida species, followed by C. albicans (34.61 %), C. glabrata (15.38. %) and C. tropicalis (5.76 %). Non albicans Candida species are gaining clinical significance. CHROM agar is an easy, technically simple, convenient and rapid method of speciation.