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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1972 January; 23(1): 108-112
Copyright © 1972 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Numerical Diagnostic Key for the Identification of Enterobacteriaceae

¹ Department of Immunology and Medical Microbiology and Clinical Laboratories, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida 32601

ABSTRACT

A numerical diagnostic key for enteric organisms is described which permits the identification of typical strains and of biochemical variants with high accuracy. Unknown strains are inoculated into a basic set of five media which permit the testing of eight biochemical reactions. The positive reactions are assigned points, and the score of a strain is added up, after which the identification of the strain is obtained from a table. In many instances, the final identification is obtained with this set of biochemical tests; and, in other instances, a small number of additional tests are required to distinguish between organisms giving the same score in the basic set of biochemical tests. The key permits an accurate, rapid, and economical differentiation of the typical and the more common atypical biotypes of enteric organisms in the clinical laboratory.