title: Clinical evaluation of the minitek differential system for identification of Enterobacteriaceae.
abstract: Forty-one stock organisms and 581 fresh clinical isolates were used in comparing the Minitek system to conventional tubed media to determine if this system is feasible and accurate for a high-volume clinical microbiology laboratory. In addition to comparison with tubed media, the following parameters were tested: (i) reproducibility of disks, (ii) the effect of variation in inoculum size, (iii) the effect of the age of culture, and (iv) the effect of predispensing disks. A total of 5,947 disks were compared with tube reactions; 95.9% agreed on the initial reading. After repeating questionable tube and disk reactions, this agreement rose to 98.2%. Using the disk reactions and the identification schema currently in use with tubed media, 94.9% of the Minitek final identifications agreed with those of tubed media; 1.5% gave differing identifications and 3.6% were inconclusive. This system is accurate, inexpensive, flexible, and convenient.
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D002954:Citrobacter / Q000145:classification; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000378:metabolism; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000145:classification; D011511:Proteus / Q000145:classification; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide