Background:
Haemophilus influenzae and H. parainfluenzae, one of the normal flora of the upper respiratory tract, may cause various infections such as, chronic bronchitis, chronic otitis media, sinusitis, conjuctivitis, septicemia in adults and
meningitis,
epiglotitis, pneumonia in children. However, the isolation and identification of Haemophilus spp. Is not easy to perform in most hospital laboratories. And the "Staphylococcus streak technique" and X, V factor requirement tests are generally used
by
most hospital laboratories.
Methods:
We compared the isolation rate of "Staphylococcus streak technique" with VBC(vancomycin-bacitracin clindamycin) agar plates for Haemophilus spp. Isolation from 458 sputum samples at Chungbuk National University Hospital from December, 1994 to
February, 1995, And We performed β-lactamase test, biotypes classification, X, V factor requireement test and Vitek NHI(bi0oMerieux Vitek, Inc. USA) card identification test with isolated 93 Haemophilus spp.
Results:
Isolation rate of Haemophilus spp. Was significantly increased to 20.3% by VBC agar, comparing 1.2% of "Staphylococcus streak technique". In 458 sputum, the isolation of H. influenzae and H. parainfluenzae were 18(19.4%) and
75(80.7%).respectively.
53.2% of H. influenzae isolates and 36.1% of H. parainfluenaze isolates were β-lactamase positive by cefinase disk method and fifty percent of the patients were over 50 years old
Conclusions :
The use of VBC agar plate for Haemophilus species isolation in sputum was better than the "staphylococcus streak technique".
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