Serious bacterial infection is a complication of diabetes. Approximately three-quarters of all diabetic patients suffer from mild to severe peripheral nerve damage, leading to impaired sensation in the feet. Patients often develop wounds on their lower extremities, which may go undetected for a period of time. Infections in this patient population can be difficult to treat and may eventually lead to amputation of the affected digit or limb. Therefore, time is critical. We rely on our VITEK® MS 2 and PREVI® Color Gram systems to help us turn around bacterial cultures in as little as 36 hours. Yeast and fungal infections are a different matter. These pathogens can take as long as four weeks to grow. We read fungal cultures after 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of incubation. We have processed over 50,000 fungal cultures this year to date, and of these, approximately 80% are positive. The VITEK 2 MS can provide rapid identification of yeast isolates. Candida albicans is a common pathogen affecting our patients, but the VITEK 2 MS database allows us to identify many other species of Candida as well as Geotrichum, Pichia, Trichosporon and Zygosaccharomyces species.