A high‐throughput and rapid method for accurate identification of emerging multidrug‐resistant Candida auris Candida auris

摘要

Summary Candida auris is an emerging multidrug‐resistant yeast associated with invasive infection in healthcare settings. Recently, C?auris cases in the United States have been detected in 11 states with the majority of cases in New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Rapid and accurate identification of C?auris is critical for patient care and the implementation of public health measures to control the spread of infection. Our aim was to develop and validate a rapid DNA extraction method using the Roche Mag NA Pure 96 instrument and a TaqMan real‐time PCR assay for reliable, high‐throughput identification of C?auris . We evaluated 247 patient dermal swab samples previously analysed by culture/ MALDI ‐ TOF . The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 93.6% and 97.2%, respectively. The assay was highly reproducible with a detection limit of 1 C?auris CFU /10?μL. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the real‐time PCR data showed an area of 0.982 under the curve, with a C T cut‐off value of ≤37.0. The turnaround time from DNA extraction to real‐time PCR results was approximately 200?samples/day. In conclusion, we successfully validated a rapid and high‐throughput method for accurate and reproducible identification of C?auris with a significantly reduced turnaround time compared to culture/ MALDI ‐ TOF based methods.