The microagglutination technique without centrifugation was more effective than centrifugation of the standard tube test for increasing Brucella agglutinin titers of specimens with a titer greater than or equal to 160 but was less effective than centrifugation of the standard tube test for specimens with a titer less than 160.

We compared the germ tube test for the direct identification of Candida albicans from positive blood culture bottles, with results obtained from subcultured colonies. The direct germ tube test was 87.1% sensitive and 100% specific for the identification of C. albicans when the results obtained from fungal colonies were compared.

Three rapid methods (spot test, disk, and tube) for detecting urease production in anaerobic bacteria yielded results faster than the conventional method. The results were more consistent with the disk and tube methods than with the spot test. Blood agar plate growth gave more consistent results than growth from chopped-meat slants.