The Clinical Bacteriology Team is involved in indentification and/or confirmation of pure cultures for the following organisms: gram negative nonfermentative rods; gram positive rods including coryneforms and Bacillus; gram positive cocci including Streptococcus and Staphylococcus; Family Enterobacteriaceae; Haemophilus; Neisseria; Brucella; and Francisella. Clinical testing includes Direct Immunofluorescent Antibody (DFA) for Bordetella pertussis; isolation and identification of enteric pathogens and Group A and B Streptococcus, Legionella, and processing of autopsy specimens from the medical examiner; serological typing for Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli 057:H7 and other shiga toxin producing E. coli, Legionella species, and Streptoccoccus species; Genetic probe testing for N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis.

The team processes yearly, on an average, 2600-3000 specimens for bacterial isolation or identification, 1500 Salmonella species for serotyping; 600 Shigella species for serotyping; and 56,000 specimens for N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis by genetic probe. The team also performs quality control on all media used by the section as well as any media that is shipped to regional laboratories.

Clinical Bacteriology Tests

The following table has a listing of many of the organisms processed by this team. The average turnaround time stated is with the understanding that clinical specimens are high priority, and in the event of outbreak situations, the pure cultures referred for identification or confirmation will be delayed until outbreak activities are concluded.

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- A - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Aeromonas species	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	4-7 days	FDA
Afipia species (Cat Scratch Fever)	Identification	Pure culture on blood or chocolate agar slant	12-21 days
Afipia species (Cat Scratch Fever)	Isolation and identification	Blood, tissue	12-21 days
- B - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Bacillus species	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	10-14 days
Bacillus anthracis	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	Ruled out of B. anthracis within 48 hrs.	CDC
Bacillus cereus	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	4-7 days	FDA
Bordetella pertussis (Pertussis)	Identification	Pure culture on Regan-Lowe or Bordet- Gengou agar slant	Negative 10 days Positive 4-6 days, results called	CDC
	Isolation from clinical specimen	Nasal swab in Regan-Lowe transport	DFA - 24 hours, positive results called to submitter
	DFA from clinical specimen	1mm DFA slide with N-P smear	DFA - 24 hours, positive results called to submitter
Bartonella (Cat Scratch fever)	Identification	Pure culture on blood or chocolate agar slant	12-21 days
Bartonella (Cat Scratch fever)	Isolation from clinial specimens	Blood or tissue, frozen, shipped on wet ice (SPS is toxic to some Bartonella)	negative 21 days positive 12-21 days
Brucella species	Identification and serology	Pure culture on agar slant	7-14 days
Brucella species	Isolation from clinical specimen	Blood, bone marrow aspirates, in sterile tube shipped on wet ice	negative 21 days positive 7-10 days
- C - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Campylobacter	Identification	Pure culture on agar blood or chocolate slant, campy gas pack	4-7 days	CDC
Campylobacter	Isolation from clinical specimen	Stool specimen in Cary-Blair, on wet ice packs Blood in blood culture bottle	Negative 3-5 days Positive 3-7 days	CDC
Corynebacterium species	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	4-10 days
Corynebacterium diphtheriae	Identification, and toxin testing	Pure culture on agar slant, preferrably Loeffler’s	4-7 days	CDC
Corynebacterium diphtheriae	Isolation and identification	Swab in stuart’s transport, aimes transport, silica gel, or on loeffler’s slant	2-5 days Positive results called to submitter	CDC
Chlamydia trachomatis	Genetic probe	Swab in GENPROBE transport tube	48-72 hrs	CDC
Chlamydia trachomatis	Amplified Genetic probe *Limited at present to approved sites	Urine, room temp- 24 hour transport; refrigerated 25-76 hr transport	2-4 days	CDC
- E - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Escherichia coli	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	4-7 days
Escherichia coli O157:H7	Identification and Serotyping; Shiga toxin testing	Pure culture on agar slant	4-7 days Serologically O157:H7 results called to submitter	CDC
Escherichia coli O157:H7	Isolation, identification, and serotyping; Shiga toxin testing	Stool specimen in Cary-Blair, Aimes, or Stuarts transport, on wet ice packs	4-7 days Serologically O157:H7 results called to submitter	CDC
Shiga toxin producing E. coli (EHEC)	Identification and Serotyping; Shiga toxin testing	Pure culture on agar slant	7-10 days; referred to CDC if necessary Positive toxin results called to submitter	CDC
Shiga toxin producing E. coli (EHEC)	Isolation, identification, and serotyping; Shiga toxin testing	Stool specimen in Cary-Blair, Aimes, or Stuarts transport, on wet ice packs		CDC
Enterococcus species	Identification and serotying; Antimicrobial susceptibility testing for Vancomycin resistance (Epidemiological data only)	Pure culture on agar slant.	4-10 days
- F - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Fastidious gram negative or gram positive rods	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	14-21 days
Francisella tularensis	Identification	Pure culture on BCYE or CHA slant	7-21 days
Francisella tularensis	Isolation and identification	Blood, tissue, lymph node biopsies or aspirates, ulcer scrapings, gastric washings, sputum	negative 21 days positive 7-21 days; called to submitter
- H - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Haemophilus influenzae	Identification and serotyping	Pure culture on Chocolate agar slant	4-7 days
Haemophilus ducreyii	Identification	Pure culture on chocolate agar slant	10-14 days
Haemophilus ducreyii	Identification	Lesion scrapings, urogenital swab from infected area, transported on wet ice	Negative 21 days Positive 7-21 days
- L - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Legionella species	Identification and DFA	Pure culture on BCYE slant	4-7 days	CDC
Legionella species	DFA, isolation, and Identification	Sputum, bronchial washings, tracheal aspirates, lung biopsy, shipped on wet ice	DFA 1-3 days Positive results called Culture: Negative 15 days Positive 3-15 days called to submitter	CDC
Listeria species	Identification	Pure cultures on non-glucose containing agar slants	4-7 days	CDC FDA
Listeria species	Isolation and identification	Blood, CSF, amniotic fluid, placental tissue, fetal tissue; shipped on wet ice within 48 hours of collection	Negative 21 days Positive 5-14 days called to submitter	CDC FDA
- N - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Neisseria gonorrhoeae	Identification , antimicrobial susceptibility studies to ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, tetracycline, and penicillin ( for epidemiological studies only)	Pure cultures on chocolate agar slants	4-7 days	CDC
Neisseria gonorrhoeae	Isolation and identification, antimicrobial susceptibility studies to ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, tetracycline, and penicillin ( for epidemiological studies only)	Throat, rectum, or other non-urogenital sites, or urogenital swabs on suspected sexual abuse cases submitted on Thayer-Martin, transgrow, or Martin-Lewis media	3-7 days	CDC
Neisseria meningiditis	Identification and serotyping	Pure cultures on blood agar slants	3-7 days Group C called to submitter	CDC
- P - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Pasturella species	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	7-14 days
Plesiomonas shigelloides	Identification	Pure culture on agar slant	4-7 days	CDC
- S - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Salmonella species	Identification and serotyping	Pure culture on agar slant	4-10 days	CDC FDA
Salmonella species	Isolation, identification, and serotyping	Stool specimen in Cary-Blair; Aimes, or Stuarts transport, on wet ice	3-7 days	CDC FDA
Shigella species	Identification and serotyping	Pure culture on agar slant	4-10 days	CDC FDA
Shigella species	Isolation, identification, and serotyping	Stool specimen in Cary-Blair; Aimes, or Stuarts transport, on wet ice	3-7 days	CDC FDA
Staphylococcus aureus	Identification, Antimicrobial susceptibility testing for Vancomycin resistance, TSST-1 toxin for Toxic Shock syndrome	Pure culture on agar slant.	3-7 days Toxin positive results called to submitter Vancomycin resistance called to submitter (for epidemiological purposes only)	CDC CDC
Staphylococcus aureus	Isolation and Identification	Stool specimens on wet ice (Outbreak situations only)	2-4 days	CDC CDC
Streptococcus Group A	Identification, serogrouping	Pure cultures on agar slants	3-7 days emm typing restricted to sterile sites with clinical symptoms of invasive disease	CDC
Streptococcus Group A	Isolation and Identification, and serogrouping	Throat swabs in stuarts or Aimes transport. (Outbreak situations only)	2-4 days	CDC
Streptococcus Group B	Identification, serogrouping	Pure cultures on agar slants	3-7 days	CDC
Streptococcus Group B	Isolation, identification, and serogrouping	Vaginal swabs	2-4 days Positive results called to submitter	CDC
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Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Vibrio cholerae O1	Identificaiton and seortyping	Pure culture on agar slant	2-7 days positive called to submitter within 48 hours	FDA
Vibrio cholerae O1	Isolation, identification, and serotyping	Stool specimen in Cary-Blair on wet ice	2-10 days positive called to submitter	FDA
Vibrio cholerae non-O1	Identificaiton and seortyping	Pure culture on agar slant	4-7 days	FDA
Vibrio cholerae non-O1	Isolation, identification, and serotyping	Stool specimen in Cary-Blair on wet ice	2-7 days positive called to submitter	FDA
Vibrio parahaemolyticus	Identificaiton	Pure culture on agar slant	4-7 days Forwarded to CDC for serology if necessary	FDA
Vibrio vulnificus	Identificaiton	Pure culture on agar slant	4-7 days	CDC FDA
- Y - ^ Top
Organism	Testing offered	What and How to Submit	Expected turnaround time for results	Additional Information
Yersinia pestis	Identification	Pure cultures on agar slants	4-15 days Submitted to CDC for additional studies and confirmation
Yersinia pestis	Isolation, identification	Blood, tissue, bubo aspirates, sputum, CSF, skin scrapings or swabs , on wet ice	Negative 21 days Positive 4-15 days
Yersinia enterocolitica and other species	Identification	Pure cultures on agar slants	4-7 days	FDA
Yersinia enterocolitica and other species	Isolation, identification	Stool in Cary-Blair, Stuarts, or Aimes transport, on wet ice	4-7 days Submission to CDC for serotyping in outbreak situations	FDA

Last Updated December 9, 2004