Candida Fungemia Diagnosed From Peripheral Blood Smear

Primary catheter sepsis is a serious consequence of the use of indwelling catheters.¹Candidafungi have been the most frequent nonbacterial organisms causing sepsis under these conditions.¹⁻³Primary catheter sepsisis defined as sepsis in which no other sources of infection can be documented; the fever resolves following catheter removal, and catheter tip culture results are identical to those of the peripheral blood.⁴We describe a case where diagnosis of catheter-relatedCandidafungemia was diagnosed almost immediately from the peripheral blood smear, compared with the most rapid culture system available, an isolator lysis centrifugation system, which has a mean time to detection of 2.95 days.⁵ A 72-year-old woman had a Hickman catheter placed for long-term total parenteral nutrition. Eight days later she became febrille (temperature to 40°C), with chills and rigor. She had a white blood cell count of 12 × 10⁹/L, including 77%