title: Evaluation of different conditions and culture media for the recovery of Aeromonas spp. from water and shellfish samples.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To perform a comparative study for determining the optimum culture method (direct plating or enrichment) and medium (ampicillin dextrin agar (ADA), starch ampicillin agar (SAA), bile salts irgasan brilliant green modified (BIBG-m)) for recovering Aeromonas species from water and shellfish samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By direct culture, Aeromonas was detected in 65% (13/20) of the water samples and in 54·5% (6/11) of the shellfish samples. However, when a pre-enrichment step was included, the number of positive water samples increased to 75% (15/20) and the ones of shellfish to 90·1% (10/11). The enriched culture significantly favoured (P < 0·05) the isolation of Aeromonas allosaccharophila from water, Aeromonas salmonicida from shellfish and Aeromonas caviae from both types of samples. The most specific (P < 0·05) culture medium for detecting Aeromonas from water was ADA. However, no differences were observed in the case of shellfish samples (P > 0·05). Isolation of Aeromonas media from water was favoured (P < 0·05) in the ADA medium, while SAA enhanced (P < 0·05) the isolation of Aer. salmonicida from shellfish.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The culture method and medium used influenced the recovery of some Aeromonas species from water and shellfish samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This fact should be considered in future prevalence studies to avoid overestimating the above mentioned Aeromonas species.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, IISPV, Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Latif-Eugenín
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, IISPV, Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Beaz-Hidalgo
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, IISPV, Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Figueras
mesh_terms: D000333:Aeromonas / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000382:microbiology*; D012758:Shellfish / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media
keywords: Aeromonas; culture media; direct plating; enrichment; shellfish; water