Comparison of a Radiometric Procedure with Conventional Methods for Identification of Neisseria

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A radiometric procedure was compared with the conventional cystine tryptic agar (CTA) sugar fermentation method for identification of Neisseria spp. Four different ATCC cultures of Neisseria were identified by both procedures with identical results. The only difference noted was that the radiometric procedure required 3 h for completion, whereas the conventional CTA sugar method required overnight incubation. The radiometric procedure was also compared with the fluorescent antibody (FA) and CTA methods for identification of N. gonorrhoeae. The organisms examined were gram-negative, oxidase-positive diplococci isolated from 49 clinical specimens sent to the laboratory for bacteriological analysis. Results obtained by CTA and FA procedures were comparable. The radioisotope method appeared to be superior to the other 2 methods in that only 1 isolate identified as positive by the CTA and FA methods was not identified radiometrically, whereas 4 isolates positive by the radiometric method were not identified by the other 2 procedures. A total of 7 more positive identifications were made radiometrically than by either of the 2 other methods. All positive identifications were confirmed by a reference laboratory. The radiometric procedure is apparently more rapid and reliable as compared with the CTA and direct FA methods and may serve as a valuable addition to the methodology available for diagnostic microbiology.