Evaluation of the Baxter-MicroScan 4-hour enzyme-based yeast identification system

A new 4-h Yeast Identification Panel (YIP; Baxter-MicroScan, W. Sacramento, Calif.) was compared with the API 20C Yeast Identification System (Analytab Products, Inc., Plainview, N.Y.) in the identification of recent clinical yeast isolates. The YIP had a 94% correlation (288 of 306) in identifying 22 species within the genera Candida, Hansenula, Pichia, Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, and Torulopsis. Correlation dropped to 65% for those species within the genera of slower growing yeasts, i.e., Blastoschizomyces spp., Cryptococcus spp., Geotrichum spp., Hyphopichia spp., Phaeococcomyces spp., Prototheca spp., and Trichosporon spp. Overall correlation with the API 20C was 92% (365 of 401) for those taxa included in the data base and 85% (373 of 437) for all yeasts encountered in the study. There were 36 (8.2%) discrepant identifications, which were due in part to the limited data base. Expansion of the data base plus the easy inoculation, reading, and rapid results of the YIP should make it an excellent method for yeast identification.