Candida is a part of the normal flora of skin, could cause contamination of a central venous catheter. The question states that the organism is purple, budding, did not respond to broad spectrum antibiotics (aka they didn't use fluconazole or amphotericin B). Lastly, they showed it plated on blood agar and there was no hemolysis which eliminates staph (the only other possible contender here.)

Cryptococcus usually involves meningitis in immunocompromised pts. E. coli is gram negative sporothrix is usually transmitted by a thorn on a rose or someone with a history of gardening

In addition to the more obvious hint of budding organism, candida has fuzzy edges on blood agar which the others don't.

Apparently, it is a common pitfall to mistake Candida albicans for Staph spps or vice versa in blood agar.

I think this explains well. Check this out: https://microbeonline.com/candida-albicans-pathogenesis-diagnosis/

"Culture: Candida albicans grows well on Sabouraud dextrose agar and most routinely used bacteriological media. Cream colored pasty colonies usually appear after 24-48 hours incubation at 25-37°C. The colonies have a distinctive yeast smell and the budding cells can be easily seen by direct microscopy in stained or unstained preparations.

In Blood Agar, Candida albicans gives white, creamy colored colonies which can be mistaken for Staphylococcus spp. Whenever you are analyzing the culture report of ‘high vaginal swab’, take extra care as the colony you are observing can be of Candida albicans instead of Staphylococcus aureus or vice versa (quick solution for this is to perform wet mount or gram staining and observing under microscope)."

I guess this question can be tricky. It is a trap if we just go for the culture picture, which I did. So I got it wrong. lol

blood culture + eliptical budding organisms ( likely germ tube) = candida