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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2003, p. 1143-1146, Vol. 41, No. 3
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.3.1143-1146.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Proficiency Testing Program for Clinical Laboratories Performing Antifungal Susceptibility Testing of Pathogenic Yeast Species

Rama Ramani¹ and Vishnu Chaturvedi^1,2*

Mycology Laboratory, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health,¹ Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York²

Received 15 August 2002/ Returned for modification 4 October 2002/ Accepted 8 December 2002

Antifungal susceptibility testing is expected to facilitate the selection of adequate therapy for fungal infections. The general availability of antifungal susceptibility testing in clinical laboratories is low, even though a number of standard methods are now available. The objective of the present study was to develop and evaluate a proficiency testing program (PTP) for the antifungal susceptibility testing of pathogenic yeasts in laboratories licensed by the New York State Department of Health. A number of quality control standards, and methods for documenting laboratory performance, were developed in consultation with the laboratory directors. The participating laboratories were provided with five American Type Culture Collection strains of pathogenic yeasts for which the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of amphotericin B and fluconazole were well defined. A majority of laboratories (14 of 17) used broth microdilution, and these were evenly split between the NCCLS M-27A protocol and the Sensititre YeastOne method. The other three laboratories performed susceptibility testing with Etest. Overall, the levels of agreement between MIC reference ranges and the reported MICs were 85 and 74% for amphotericin B and for fluconazole, respectively. All laboratories except one successfully detected fluconazole resistance in a Candida krusei strain. However, amphotericin B resistance in a Candida lusitaniae strain was not detected by any of the participating labs. It is concluded that a suitably designed PTP could adequately monitor the competence of clinical laboratories performing antifungal susceptibility testing.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Mycology Laboratory, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, 120 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY 12201-2002. Phone: (518) 474-4177. Fax: (518) 486-7811. E-mail: vishnu{at}wadsworth.org.

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2003, p. 1143-1146, Vol. 41, No. 3
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.3.1143-1146.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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