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These
are published studies conducted by some of our customers. Reprints are available
on request.
Evaluation of the ISOPLATER 180 for Automated Primary Plating of Clinical
Specimens
M. Valsorda, P. Lebel, J.-R. LaPointe, L. Kemp, C.
Laferriére, «Hôpital Sainte-Justine» and «Université
de Montréal»
The ISOPLATER is designed to automate
and standardize the streaking of Petri dishes. We have evaluated the ISOPLATER
in a large pediatric microbiology laboratory, comparing its automated
streaking to the standard manual method.
Two hundred ten specimens were set up
both by ISOPLATER and manual methods, using standardized inocula on paired
plates incubated indentically: 99 urines (of which 15 were positive),
31 throat swabs, 19 vaginal secretions, 18 sputa, 18 stools, 18 pus, and
10 blood cultures. Incubation was done aerobically and anaerobically as
needed by the specimen type.
No differences were observed on paired
plates regarding: colony, morphology or numbers, spreading, isolated colonies,
background flora, or contamination. Colony sizes were smaller and zones
of hemolysis less well-defined on the plates streaked by the ISOPLATER
when incubated in air, but no differences were observed when paired plates
were incubated in CO2. Streaking delayed up to 30 minutes after inoculation
did not change the final results of the culture, as evaluated in 12 urine
and 8 throat cultures.
We
conculde that the ISOPLATER gave results comparable to those of conventional
manual streaking fora good variety of clinical specimens. The automatic
streaker was easy to use, reliable and well-accepted by the technologists.
Enumeration and Isolation of the Human Gut
Using Manual and Automated Methods of Streaking Inoculated Media
Darryl Gopaul, Leslie Hart, Brenda Cupp, Martin Lee
St. Joseph's Health Centre London, Ontario Canada and Great Smokies Diagnostic
Laboratory, Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Colonizing
bacteria in the human gut are necessary in the metabolism of nutrients
and food components. One of bacteria's key roles for example, is the digestion
of soluble fibers to short chain fatty acids. The numbers and types of
organisms present in the stools of humans is of interest in patients with
diagnosis of food allergies, malabsorption syndrome, autoimmune disease
and in acute and chronic gastrointestinal dysfunction. The purpose of
this study was to evaluate the recovery of fecal bacteria by the manual
method of plating stools compared to the automated method of spreading
stools onto selective media. A total of 15,234 stools were streaked in
1993-1994 using the manual method and 16,923 stools were streaked in 1994-1995
using an automated method (Vista Laboratories Ltd. ISOPLATER). The number
of isolates considered potentially pathogenic recovered by the manual
method was 5,921 while the number recovered using the ISOPLATER was 9,359
(p<0.001). A significant increase was noted in the recovery of certain
organisms: Klebsiella pneumoniae-mucoid strains (13.6% to 20.1%), Aeromonas
(0.08% to 0.2%), Proteus vulgaris (1.1% to 1.8%), non-Lactose fermenting
E. Coli (0.6% to 0.9%), Pseudomonas (3.7% to 6.5%), Shigella (0.007% to
0.03%), Campylobacter (0.007% to 0.02%), Yersinia (0% to 0.06%), and Vibrio
(none to 0.02%) using the ISOPLATER. While one could argue that the increased
recovery reflects year-to-year variation, the large number of specimens
evaluated suggests that the ISOPLATER automated streaker leads to improved
recovery of fecal bacteria as compared to the manual method.
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