GROWTH-CHARACTERISTICS AND A NOVEL METHOD FOR IDENTIFICATION (THE WEE-TAB SYSTEM) OF PORPHYROMONAS SPECIES ISOLATED FROM INFECTED-DOG AND CAT BITE WOUNDS IN HUMANS

Thirty-nine clinical isolates of Porphyromonas species recovered from infected cat and dog bite mounds in humans and eight American Type Cul ture Collection and National Collection of Type Cultures type strains were characterized by using the API ZYM system, the RapID ANA II syste m, and conventional biochemical methods, Growth characteristics on var ious agar media were compared, All strains grew on brucella blood agar supplemented with vitamin K-1 and hemin and on brucella lacked blood agar supplemented with vitamin K-1 and hemin, In contrast, only 34% of strains grew an unsupplemented brucella blood agar, 62% grew on Colum bia blood agar, and 70% grew on tryptic soy blood agar (the last three media did not contain vitamin K-1 or hemin). The ability of the singl e-tube, triple-substrate WEE-TAB system to detect the preformed enzyme s N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, alpha-D-galactosidase, beta-D-galac tosidase, alpha-fucosidase, trypsin-like activity, and chymotrypsin wa s evaluated. The WEE-TAB test results were easy to interpret: the WEE- TAB tests were more sensitive than the comparable tests with the API Z YM and RapID ANA II systems for the detection of alpha-D-galactosidase , beta-D-galactosidase, trypsin, and chymotrypsin, and the WEE-TAB tes ts accurately identified Porphyromonas species.