Rapid and Accurate Molecular Identification of the Emerging Multidrug-Resistant Pathogen Candida auris.

is an emerging multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen causing nosocomial and invasive infections associated with high mortality. is commonly misidentified as several different yeast species by commercially available phenotypic identification platforms. Thus, there is an urgent need for a reliable diagnostic method. In this paper, we present fast, robust, easy-to-perform and interpret PCR and real-time PCR assays to identify and related species: , , and Targeting rDNA region nucleotide sequences, primers specific for only or and related species were designed. A panel of 140 clinical fungal isolates was used in both PCR and real-time PCR assays followed by electrophoresis or melting temperature analysis, respectively. The identification results from the assays were 100% concordant with DNA sequencing results. These molecular assays overcome the deficiencies of existing phenotypic tests to identify and related species.