Proposition of an appropriate technique to diagnose catheters fungal infectivities

Despite their great importance in the hospital environment, catheters are medical devices that can harm patients following their alterations by bacteria and/or fungal microorganisms. These alterations are classified into three types of infectivities, which may be simple contaminations/colonizations or serious infections. Bacterial infectivities were well studied using the technique of (Brun-Buisson et al., 1987); however, no technique was designed for yeast. Thus, we aimed to adapt the bacterial technique toward the assessment of the fungal infectivities. In order to check its reproducibility, both techniques were used in parallel. The results obtained were not consistent. That of Brun-Buisson et al. reflected more the catheters fungal contamination or colonization; nevertheless, the modified technique was better appropriate to the fungal infections of catheters considering the reduced time for its realization.