title: T2Candida Provides Rapid and Accurate Species Identification in Pediatric Cases of Candidemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The goal of this study is to assess the ability of the T2Candida platform (T2 Biosystems, Lexington, MA) to accurately identify Candida species from pediatric blood specimens with low volumes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Whole blood from 15 children with candidemia was collected immediately following blood culture draw. The amount of blood required by the system was reduced by pipetting whole blood directly onto the T2Candida cartridge. Specimens were subsequently run on the T2Dx Instrument (T2 Biosystems).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The T2Candida panel provided the appropriate result for each specimen compared with blood culture-based species identification and correctly identified 15 positive and nine negative results in 3 to 5 hours. While the time to species identification for blood culture was not reported, the T2Candida results include species data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  T2Candida can be used to efficiently diagnose or rule out candidemia using low-volume blood specimens from pediatric patients. This could result in improved time to appropriate antifungal therapy or reduction in unnecessary empirical antifungal therapy.
authors.affiliation: From the Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY camille.hamula@mssm1.edu.
authors.forename: Camille L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hamula
authors.affiliation: From the Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, PA Department of Pediatrics; the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Brian T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, PA Department of Pediatrics; the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Theoklis E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Zaoutis
authors.affiliation: From the Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Ila R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Mycology Research Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Aristea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Velegraki
mesh_terms: D000071997:Blood Culture / Q000379:methods; D058387:Candidemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal
keywords: Candida; Direct detection; T2Candida