TECHNIQUES FOR THE RECOVERY OF BACTEROIDES-VULGATUS FROM SHELLFISH

Clinical techniques and prereduced anaerobically sterilized (PRAS) med ia were utilized for the isolation and identification of Bacteroides v ulgatus from shellfish. B. vulgatus is one of the most commonly recove red anaerobic bacteria from the human colon and outnumbers fecal colif orms in the human intestine a thousandfold. Identification of B. vulga tus was verified by the organism's resistance to kanamycin, vancomycin , colistin, ability to grow in the presence of bile, and inability to hydrolyze esculin. Sixty-six shellfish samples were examined. Twenty-e ight of these samples (42%) possessed levels of fecal coliforms exceed ing the established wholesale market limit. Fifteen (23%) tested posit ive for the presence of B. vulgatus. Of these 15 B. vulgatus positive samples, eight (53%) had fecal coliform levels greater than the wholes ale market standard, five (33%) had fecal coliform levels less than th e market standard, and two (13%) had nondetectable fecal coliform leve ls. An experimental PRAS medium, Bacteroides vulgatus Selective agar, was developed and tested for a more rapid recovery and identification of B. vulgatus from shellfish.