Dipstick test for rapid diagnosis of Shigella dysenteriae 1 in bacterial cultures and its potential use on stool samples.

Background: We describe a test for rapid detection of S. dysenteriae 1 in bacterial cultures and in stools, at the bedside of patients.

Methodology/principal Findings: The test is based on the detection of S.

High interlaboratory reproducibility of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry-based species identification of nonfermenting bacteria.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry has emerged as a rapid, cost-effective alternative for bacterial species identification. Identifying 60 blind-coded nonfermenting bacteria samples, this international study (using eight laboratories) achieved 98.75% interlaboratory reproducibility.

Microbacterium binotii sp. nov., isolated from human blood.

Two strains of non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, Gram-positive bacteria, CIP 101303(T) and CIP 102116, were isolated from human blood in 1976 and 1977, respectively. These strains had chemotaxonomic markers that were consistent with classification in the genus Microbacterium, i.e.

Arthrobacter bergerei sp. nov. and Arthrobacter arilaitensis sp. nov., novel coryneform species isolated from the surfaces of cheeses.

Fourteen isolates of two different bacterial species isolated from the surface of smear-ripened cheeses were found to exhibit many characteristics of the genus Arthrobacter. The isolates were aerobic, Gram-positive, catalase-positive, non-spore-forming and non-motile. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained lysine, alanine and glutamic acid.

Taxonomic characterization of nine strains isolated from clinical and environmental specimens, and proposal of Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum sp. nov.

Nine unidentified Gram-positive, lipophilic corynebacteria were isolated from clinical and food samples and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic analysis. The bacteria were distinguished from Corynebacterium species with validly published names by biochemical tests, fatty acid content and whole-cell protein analysis. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated unambiguously that the nine strains were related phylogenetically to the species 'Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum' and represented a distinct subline within the genus Corynebacterium.