Diagnosis of Candidemia

Abstract

Patients with invasive fungal infections still have high morbidity and mortality despite an increasing number of antifungals and other therapies. Because of this problem, an accurate and rapid diagnosis is mandatory in order to improve clinical outcome in these patients. In this paper we review the tools for the diagnosis of candidemia, including blood culture systems, chromogenic media, commercial kits for species identification, and newer technologies for the diagnosis of candidemia such as MALDI-TOF, PNA FISH and the T2 system.