Background:
The isolation and identification of anaerobes from clinical samples is important in the clinical microbiology laboratories, since antimicrobial therapy for these infections can differ depending on the organisms. Although conventional
biochemical
tests and gas-liquid chromatography analysis are accurate identification methods, these are time-consuming, expensive, and beyond the capabilities of many laboratories. We evaluated the usefulness and accuracy of the ATB 32A system for the
identification of clinically significant anaerobic bacteria in clinical laboratory.
Methods:
An evaluation of the ATB 32A system (biomerieux SA, Marcy-l'Etoile, France) was performed with 375 clinical isolates of anaerobic bacteria. Identification obtained with the ATB 32A was compared with those determined by conventional methoods.
Results:
The ATB 32A system correctly identified 95.3% of 129 Bacteroides spp., 93.7% of 48 Prevotella spp., 85.7% of 14 nonsporeforming gram-positive rod, 84.6% of 91 Clostridium spp., 79.4% of 87 Peptostreptococcus spp., 66.7% of 6 Fusobacterium
spp.
Overall, eei8 strains (90.1%) were correctly identified, with 34 (9.0%) requiring additional tests. Thirty-seven strains (9.9%) were incorrectly identified or not identified by the system. The system identified 100% of clinically significant
isolates,
64 Bacteroides fragilis and 23 Clostridium perfringens.
Conclusions:
It is conclude from this study that, although some strains are identified incorrectly, as most of the frequently isolated anaerobes are correctly identified, the ATB system can be used for the rapid identification of anaerobes in the clinical
laboratory.
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