Aim: To measure the agreement of methods for identification of
Candida
species in oral cavity
samples, comparing the CHROMagar
Candida, microculture, API 20C AUX and RAPD
techniques.
Methods: Ninety-one colonies of
Candida were isolated and presumptively identified
in CHROMagar
Candida, submitted to microculture, API 20C AUX and RAPD techniques. After
this, agreement among methods using Kappa test was performed.
Results: Agreement rates
between RAPD and CHROMagar
Candida, showed significant accuracy for
C. albicans
,
C. tropicalis
,
C. dubliniensis
and
C. krusei
(Kappa: 0.760, 0.640, 0.416 and 0.360, respectively,
p<0.05). Comparing RAPD results with microculture, the highest agreement was for
C. albicans
(Kappa: 0.851 - p<0.05) but no significant agreement for
C. lusitaniae
,
C. krusei and
C. guilliermondii
was obtained (p>0.05). The agreement was significant for all identified species
when RAPD (OPE-18) and API 20C AUX (p<0.05) were used. Critical levels of agreement
between RAPD and microculture were observed when
C. lusitaniae,
C. krusei and
C.
guilliermondii were identified.
Conclusions: API 20C AUX presented the best agreement with
molecular random identification and CHROMagar showed good agreement for
C. albicans,
C.
tropicalis,
C. dubliniensis and
C. krusei identification.