Comparison of the Minitek test system with a conventional screening procedure for identification of...

A Minitek basic 9 disc/11 test system plus arabinose, inositol and rhamnose was compared with a conventional six tube screening system for identification of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. Correlation varied from 88.3 to 100% with the various substrates when studied against 737 strains of these and other gram-negative bacteria recently isolated in our clinical laboratory. Two discs, citrate and ornithine, which originally gave a correlation of 88.3 and 95.5% respectively were modified so that a final correlation of 99.4 and 96.3% was obtained. The average correlation using the eleven discs was 97%.