Performance Evaluation of VITEK MS for the Identification of a Wide Spectrum of Clinically Relevant Filamentous Fungi Using a Korean Collection

The correct identification of filamentous fungi is challenging. We evaluated the performance of the VITEK MS v3.0 system (bioMerieux, Marcy-l'toile, France) for the identification of a wide spectrum of clinically relevant filamentous fungi using a Korean collection. Strains that were added to the upgraded v3.2 database were additionally identified by the VITEK MS v3.2 system. Of the 105 tested isolates, including 37 Aspergillus (nine species), 41 dermatophytes (seven species), and 27 other molds (17 species), 43 (41.0%) showed no identification or multiple species identification results at the initial VITEK MS testing; these isolates were retested using the same method. Compared with sequence-based identification, the correct identification rate using VITEK MS for Aspergillus, dermatophytes, other molds, and total mold isolates was 67.6%, 56.1%, 48.1%, and 58.1% at the initial testing and 94.6%, 78.0%, 55.6%, and 78.1% with retesting, respectively. Following retesting, 19 (18.1%) and two (1.9%) isolates showed no identification and misidentification results, respectively. VITEK MS reliably identified various filamentous fungi recovered in Korea, with a very low rate of misidentification.

Automated summary

The study evaluated the performance of the VITEK MS system in identifying filamentous fungi in a Korean collection, showing high correct identification rates for Aspergillus, dermatophytes, and other molds in both initial and retesting rounds, with a very low rate of misidentification.