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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 1998, p. 2586-2589, Vol. 36, No. 9
Department of Pathology, University of Iowa
College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa,1 and
AB BIODISK, Solna, Sweden2
Received 20 April 1998/Returned for modification 26 May
1998/Accepted 16 June 1998
The performance of the Etest for fluconazole susceptibility testing
of 402 yeast isolates was assessed against the National Committee for
Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) microdilution broth method. The
NCCLS method employed RPMI 1640 broth medium, and MICs were read after
incubation for 48 h at 35°C. Etest MICs were determined with
RPMI agar containing 2% glucose (RPG), Casitone agar (CAS), and
Mueller-Hinton agar (MHA) and were read after incubation for 48 h
at 35°C. The yeast isolates included Candida albicans
(n = 161), Candida glabrata
(n = 41), Candida tropicalis (n = 35), Candida parapsilosis
(n = 29), Candida krusei
(n = 32), Candida lusitaniae
(n = 31), Candida species
(n = 19), Cryptococcus neoformans
(n = 40), and miscellaneous yeast species
(n = 14). The Etest results correlated well with
reference MICs. Overall agreement was 94% with RPG, 97% with CAS, and
53% with MHA. When RPG was used, agreement ranged from 89% for
Candida spp. to 100% for C. krusei. When CAS
was utilized, agreement ranged from 93% for Cryptococcus
neoformans to 100% for C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. lusitaniae, Candida
spp., and miscellaneous yeast species. With MHA, agreement ranged from
17% for C. parapsilosis to 90% for C. krusei.
Both RPG and CAS supported growth of all yeast species, whereas growth
on MHA was comparatively weaker. Etest results were somewhat easier to
read on CAS. The Etest method using either RPG or CAS, but not MHA,
appears to be a viable alternative to the NCCLS reference method for
determining fluconazole susceptibilities of yeasts.
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Evaluation of the Etest Method for Determining
Fluconazole Susceptibilities of 402 Clinical Yeast Isolates by
Using Three Different Agar Media
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Medical
Microbiology Division, C606 GH, Department of Pathology, University of
Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242. Phone: (319) 384-9566. Fax: (319) 356-4916. E-mail: michael-pfaller{at}uiowa.edu.
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