title: Identification and grouping of Neisseria meningitidis directly on agar plates by coagglutination with specific antibody-coated protein A-containing staphylococci.
abstract: It has been shown that Neisseria meningitidis can be grouped by coagglutination directly upon growth on sheep blood or chocolate agar plates. All positive reactions were group specific, and only a single colony was required for a positive reaction. There was variation seen in the effectiveness of commercial antisera in preparing sensitive reagents. Certain throat and sputum isolates of group Z organisms failed to react by coagglutination, although they would react directly with antiserum in whole-cell agglutination. This problem remains unresolved but may not be greatly significant in laboratory use of this method since group Z is rarely associated with disease.
mesh_terms: D000362:Agar; D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods*; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000276:immunology; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000276:immunology; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification* / Q000276:immunology; D013205:Staphylococcal Protein A / Q000276:immunology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D013205:Staphylococcal Protein A; D000362:Agar