Evaluation of a one-hour test for the identification of Neisseria species

This study presents an evaluation of the RIM-N kit (Austin Biological Laboratories, Inc., Austin, Tex.), a commercial system for rapid identification of Neisseria spp. and Branhamella catarrhalis. The system was compared with the cystine-Trypticase (BBL Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, Md.) agar method; 218 isolates were tested by each method. There was 96% agreement between the two methods, and only nine discrepancies were encountered. The results suggest that the RIM-N kit may provide a rapid and reliable method for identifying Neisseria spp. and B. catarrhalis.