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Comparative Study
. 2011 Nov;30(11):1425-30.
doi: 10.1007/s10096-011-1237-7. Epub 2011 Apr 12.

Comparison of culture media for detection of Acinetobacter baumannii in surveillance cultures of critically-ill patients

A O Ajao  1 , G Robinson, M S Lee, T D Ranke, R A Venezia, J P Furuno, A D Harris, J K Johnson
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Comparison of culture media for detection of Acinetobacter baumannii in surveillance cultures of critically-ill patients

A O Ajao et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2011 Nov.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of CHROMagar Acinetobacter when compared to sheep blood agar, MacConkey agar and MacConkey agar with 6 μg/ml of imipenem for the detection of A. baumannii in surveillance cultures of hospitalized patients. We utilized peri-anal swabs and sputum samples from patients admitted to the University of Maryland Medical Center ICUs from December 7 through December 21, 2009. Samples were plated onto four media in the following order: (1) 5% sheep blood agar (SBA), (2) MacConkey agar, (3) MacConkey agar with 6 μg/ml of imipenem, and (4) CHROMagar Acinetobacter (CHROMagar). SBA was the gold standard to which all media was compared. There were 165 samples collected during the study period. SBA and CHROMagar detected 18 of 18 (100%) Acinetobacter and 11 of 11 (100%) MDR-A. baumannii. MacConkey agar detected 16 of 18 (89%) Acinetobacter and 10 of 11 (91%) MDR- A. baumannii while MacConkey agar with 6 μg/ml imipenem detected 9 of 11 (82%) MDR-A. baumannii. CHROMagar did not differentiate MDR- A. baumannii from non-MDR-A. baumannii. CHROMagar may be useful for rapid detection of patients with MDR-A. baumannii if improved upon to better select for MDR-A. baumannii.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to report.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Appearance of Acinetobacter spp. and other gram-negative bacteria with similar red color as Acinetobacter on CHROMagar Acinetobacter media. a Acinetobacter spp. appeared as bright salmon red colonies. b Pseudomonas spp. appeared as shiny red colonies and tested oxidase-positive. c Stenotrophomonas spp. appeared as red-orange pinpoint colonies with clear pheripheral edges and tested oxidase-negative. d Achromobacter spp. appeared as pinpoint dark red colonies and tested oxidase-positive
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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