Testing the LightCycler Candida Kit MGRADE in artificially-contaminated whole blood and serum: Consequences for the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis

Fungal infections are a cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Among fungal infections, Candida albicans is the most frequent. A standardized method to detect C. albicans in whole blood or serum with LightCycler Candida Kit MGRADE was tested for the first time. Whole blood and serum were artificially infected with C. albicans cells or DNA, respectively. Sensitivity was 5×102CFU/ml in whole blood and five copies of genome per milliliter in serum. None commercially available real-time PCR kit has been reported yet to detect C. albicans and it is the first time that such a kit is described to detect C. albicans in biological samples. However, interest is limited because the kit LightCycler Candida Kit MGRADE only detects C. albicans.