IDENTIFICATION OF 5 PEPTOSTREPTOCOCCUS SPECIES ISOLATED PREDOMINANTLYFROM THE FEMALE GENITAL-TRACT BY USING THE RAPID ID32A SYSTEM

The rapid ID32A kit (bioMeriuex Vitek, Inc., Hazelwood, Mo.) was evalu ated for its ability to identify Peptostreptococcus species compared w ith conventional biochemical tests and gas-liquid chromatography (Virg inia Polytechnic Institute), the current ''gold standard'' method. A t otal of 5 Peptostreptococcus American Type Culture Collection strains and 95 clinical isolates comprising Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, P. asaccharolyticus, P. magnus, P. micros, and P. prevotii isolates Here included for analysis. Overall, the sensitivity and specificity of the rapid ID32A kit in the identification for five Peptostreptococcus spe cies compared with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute method R ere 93 and 80%, respectively. All P. anaerobius (n = 20) and P. asaccharolyti cus (n = 25) isolates Here identified with 100% sensitivity and 100% s pecificity. For the identification of P. magnus (n = 24) and P. micros (n = 19), the rapid ID32A kit was 100% sensitive for both species; th e specificity far P. magnus was 95.8% and that for P. micros Has 57.9% . The sensitivity and specificity of the rapid ID32A kit for identific ation of P. prevotii (n = 12) were poor (41.7 and 8.3%, respectively). The rapid ID32A kit is a useful method for the rapid differentiation of P. anaerobius and P. asaccharolyticus from other Peptostreptococcus spp. Conventional methods should be used to identify to the species l evel isolates of P. magnus, P. micros, and P. prevotii.