The 16S rRNA gene has previously been used to develop genus-specific PCR primers for identification of enterococci. In addition, the superoxide dismutase gene (sodA) has been identified as a potential target for species differentiation of enterococci. In this study, Enterococcus genus-specific primers developed by Deasy et al. (E1/E2) were incorporated with species-specific primers based upon t...

The Micro-ID 4-h identification system for Enterobacteriaceae was compared to the API 20E overnight method, using 230 fresh clinical isolates and 74 stock cultures. Agreement was 97.8% for the clinical isolates and 93.2% for the stock cultures. Eighty-seven percent of primary culture plates containing gram-negative rods yielded sufficient growth to perform the 4-h Micro-ID identification on the...

This study, conducted as part of our overall goal of regular pharmacovigilance of antimalarial medicines, reports on the quality of 132 artemisinin-based antimalarial medicines distributed in Ghana and Togo. Three methods were employed in the quality evaluation-basic (colorimetric) tests for establishing the identity of the requisite active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), semi-quantitative T...

A commercially available streptococcal identification system, Rapid STREP (API System S.A., Montalieu-Vercieu, France), was used to identify 119 viridans strains at the species level. A total of 92% of the strains tested were identified correctly with the Rapid STREP system, and 81% of the correct identifications were made at percentages of identification of 90 or greater. From these data it ap...

A total of 1,013 isolates of Enterobacteriaceae were identified in parallel by the Repliscan (Cathra International, Ontario, Canada) and API 20E (Analytab Products, Plainview, N.Y.) systems. There was a 62% agreement at the genus level between the two systems. Of the 38% discrepant results, Repliscan classified 22% as "biochemical pattern not on file," 8% as a multiple-genus group which include...

It is difficult to make an early identification of which children with recurrent wheezing will develop asthma in the following years. The Asthma Predictive Index (API) is a questionnaire based on clinical and laboratory parameters used for this end. The measurement of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FE NO) has been used as a marker of eosinophilic airway infammation in asthma patients. Objecti...

Barbe and coworkers tested 318 isolates of Haemophilus and Neisseria species as well as Moraxella catarrhalis in an evaluation of the API NH kit in a study primarily addressing the ability of that kit to accurately identify organisms in its intended area of application (1). They found that only 1 of the 305 strains that were included in the kit database was identified incorrectly, and of the 13...

The ability of the API 20E system to identify 105 clinical isolates of Yersinia spp. was compared with those of conventional biochemical tests at 28 and 37 degrees C. Elimination of the Voges-Proskauer test (recorded as a negative result) increased the percentage of correct identifications for Yersinia spp. from 66 to 93% when the API 20E strips were incubated at 28 degrees C.

A kit for the identification of staphylococci based on the biochemical criteria proposed by Kloos and Schleifer (W.E. Kloos and K.H. Schleifer, J. Clin. Microbiol., 1:82-88, 1975) is now available commercially. The system was used to identify 100 strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from various body sites as the primary etiological agent of clinical infection. The increasing im...