Direct MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Assay of Blood Culture Broths for Rapid Identification of CandidaSpecies Causing Bloodstream Infections: an Observational Study in Two Large Microbiology Laboratories

ABSTRACTWe evaluated the reliability of the Bruker Daltonik's MALDI Biotyper system in species-level identification of yeasts directly from blood culture bottles. Identification results were concordant with those of the conventional culture-based method for 95.9% of Candida albicans(187/195) and 86.5% of non-albicans Candidaspecies (128/148). Results were available in 30 min (median), suggesting that this approach is a reliable, time-saving tool for routine identification of Candidaspecies causing bloodstream infection.