Identification of clinical yeast isolates by using the Microring YT

The Microring YT (MYT; Medical Wire & Equipment Co., Victory Gardens, N.J.) is a system for the rapid (24 to 48 h) identification of yeasts. The MYT system was evaluated and compared with the API20C (Analytab Products, Plainview, N.Y.) system for its ability to identify 677 clinical yeast isolates. Only 458 isolates (68%) were correctly identified by the MYT system, and the accuracy of the system varied considerably (0 to 96%), depending on the species. While MYT was less expensive and convenient to use and results were available 24 h sooner, it is inadequate for identification of many commonly isolated yeasts and is not designed for the identification of Cryptococcus species.