Comparison of several laboratory media for presumptive identification of enterococci and group D streptococci

Bile-esculin (Difco), modified bile-esculin (Difco), selective enterococcus (Pfizer Co.), and eosin-methylene blue agar media were evaluated for accuracy in identifying group D streptococci. The regular and modified bile-esculin media performed equally well, but the selective enterococcus and eosin-methylene blue agars did not accurately differentiate the group D from non-group D streptococci. A modified 6.5% NaCl broth was compared with unmodified 6.5% NaCl broth and Streptococcus faecalis (SF; Difco) broth for accuracy in differentiating enterococci from non-enterococci. The modified and unmodified broths worked equally well in the salt tolerance test, but the lot-to-lot variability of SF broth made this medium unusable as an indicator for enterococci. With all seven media, the number of strains giving positive tests decreased when the tests were incubated at 45 C as compared with 35 C, and the number of strains giving negative tests increased. Thus, the number of false-positive identifications decreased, but the number of false-negative identifications increased. Variability in the susceptibility of group D non-enterococcal streptococci to oxacillin and methicillin sensitivity disks limited the usefulness of these tests for presumptive identification of either enterococci or group D streptococci.