title: Evaluation of several commercial biochemical and immunologic methods for rapid identification of gram-positive cocci directly from blood cultures.
abstract: To develop laboratory methods for the rapid identification of gram-positive cocci from blood cultures, several commercial immunological and biochemical tests for identifying staphylococci and streptococci from two different blood culture systems (Thiol/TSB, Difco Laboratories; BACTEC, Johnston Laboratories, Inc.) were evaluated and compared with conventional identification methods. A total of 44 cultures contained Staphylococcus aureus as determined by conventional methods. Commercial immunological methods (six tested) ranged in overall sensitivity from 38.6 (Staphyloslide; BBL Microbiology Systems) to 77.3% (Staphaurex; Wellcome Diagnostics). All methods tested had 100% specificity. A total of 30 isolates of group D streptococci were tested with immunological and biochemical identification systems. The overall sensitivity ranged from 14.2% (Phadebact Group D; Pharmacia Diagnostics) to 100% with Streptex (Wellcome; immunological) and Identicult A-E (Scott Laboratories, Inc.; biochemical). The results of this study suggest that some reagents can be used to provide rapid identification of gram-positive cocci from blood cultures 24 h earlier than standard methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rappaport
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nachamkin
mesh_terms: D002374:Catalase / Q000032:analysis; D003030:Coagulase / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006868:Hydrolysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011760:Pyrrolidinones / Q000378:metabolism; D018805:Sepsis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D003030:Coagulase; D011760:Pyrrolidinones; C034099:pyrrolidonyl-beta-naphthylamide; D002374:Catalase