Expression of ESBL-like activity in infrequently encountered members of the family Enterobacteriaceae.

A collection of 94 unusual members of the Enterobacteriaceae were screened for the presence of extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) using the MicroScan ESβL plus dried confirmation panel. Presumptively positive strains were then confirmed for the presence of an ESBL by double disk diffusion, E-test strips (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden) and PCR for SHV, TEM, and CTX-M2 genes. Of the 18 strains initially positive on the ESβL panel only three strains (Leminorella grimontii, Klebsiella ozaenae, and Kluyvera ascorbata) were positive by confirmation methods.

Evaluation of commercial antisera for Salmonella serotyping.

We compared a set of commercial Salmonella somatic and flagellar serotyping antisera to in-house-prepared antisera from the Microbial Diseases Laboratory, California Department of Public Health, using 327 Salmonella enterica strains belonging to subgroups I, II, IIIa, IIIb, and IV. The sensitivities of Denka Seiken (Tokyo, Japan) somatic and flagellar antisera (using a tube agglutination assay) were 94.0% and 99.

The genus Aeromonas: biochemical characteristics, atypical reactions, and phenotypic identification schemes.

A total of 193 strains representing 14 different Aeromonas genomospecies were evaluated for 63 phenotypic properties to create useful tables for the reference identification of mesophilic aeromonads. Only 9 of 62 biochemical tests (14%) yielded uniform results, and the fermentation of certain carbohydrates was found to be linked to specific species. A number of unusual or aberrant properties for the genus Aeromonas were also detected in the collection of 428 strains (193 in the phenotypic study, 235 in a retrospective review).