Oropharyngeal candidiasis is the most common opportunistic fungal infectious disease. Culture methods and microscopy are used to detect the presence of Candida species in clinical specimens. We have previously developed an immunochromatographic test (ICT) to enable the simple and rapid diagnosis of candidiasis. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the ICT for the detection of Candida species from pharyngeal swabs and compared the results with those of the culture method. The isolated Candida species were identified using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, and viable cell counts were determined using selective chromogenic agar. The detection rate of C. albicans was 63.3% and 0% among ≤10² and ≥ 10⁶ colony-forming units (CFU)/mL of viable Candida cells from pharyngeal swabs, respectively. The detection rate of nonC. albicans Candida species, especially C. glabrata, increased commensurately from 16.7% at ≤10² CFU/mL to 75.0% at ≥10⁶ CFU/mL. Among the 300 pharyngeal swabs analyzed, 59 cultures detected Candida species at a count of >10³ CFU/mL (53 were ICT-positive). Of the remaining 241 culture-negative specimens, 219 were ICT-negative. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the ICT were 89.8%, 90.9%, and 90.7%, respectively. Taken together, the ICT evaluated can be made readily available for clinical use in detecting Candida.

口咽念珠菌病是最常见的机会性真菌感染性疾病。培养方法和显微镜用于检测临床标本中念珠菌的存在。我们之前已经开发了一种免疫色谱测试（ICT），可以简单，快速地诊断念珠菌病。在这项研究中，我们评估了ICT在咽拭子中检测念珠菌种类的性能，并将结果与​​培养方法进行了比较。使用聚合酶链反应-限制性片段长度多态性鉴定分离的念珠菌种类，并使用选择性生色琼脂测定活细胞计数。≤10的白色念珠菌检出率为63.3％和0％来自咽拭子的活念珠菌细胞分别为²和≥10 ^6个菌落形成单位（CFU）/ mL 。非的检出率的白色念珠菌念珠菌物种，特别是光滑念珠菌，从16.7％增加相称在≤10 ²  CFU / mL至75.0％在≥10 ⁶  CFU /毫升。在分析的300个咽拭子中，有59种培养物检测到念珠菌的数量超过10 ³ CFU / mL（53例ICT阳性）。在其余的241个文化阴性样本中，有219个ICT阴性。ICT的敏感性，特异性和准确性分别为89.8％，90.9％和90.7％。综上所述，所评估的ICT可以随时用于临床检测念珠菌。