Evaluation of API An-IDENT and RapID ANA II systems for identification of Actinomyces species from clinical specimens

We compared the accuracy of the An-IDENT system (bioMerieux Vitek, Inc., Hazelwood, Mo.) and the RapID ANA II system (Innovative Diagnostic Systems, Norcross, Ga.) with that of conventional biochemical tests for the identification of 85 strains of Actinomyces species. In our hands, the overall accuracy of the An-IDENT was 59% and that of the RapID ANA II was 24%. The error rate for the An-IDENT was 18% and that for the RapID ANA II was 38%. The results of this study suggest that although the An-IDENT was more accurate than the RapID ANA II (P < 0.005), neither system, in our hands, was able to identify Actinomyces species with an acceptable degree of accuracy. It is recommended that suspected Actinomyces isolates be identified by conventional testing.