Welcome! Welcome!

This week we're looking at Erba Mannheim again, and their clinical microbiology products. They have quite a few so this may be a long one with lots of tables. But first, who are Erba?

Who is Erba Mannheim/ Lachema? 

For 50 years, the Erba Group has been developing and manufacturing products for urine analysis, clinical chemistry and bacterial identification. Their mission being to provide high quality, easily accessible products for reliable, quick and comfortable analyses, to shorten the time to patient treatment. Erba are able to offer a wide spectrum of progressive products focused on high reliability for analysis. 

MIKROLATEST MIC

MIKROLATEST MIC are high quality systems designed for antibiotic susceptibility testing, based on minimal inhibitory concentration determination, designed for visual, or automated, reading. These kits allow for the quantitative determination of the MIC of antibiotics in preselected panels. The test procedure is based on broth micro-dilution methods that measure, quantitatively, in vitro activity of an antimicrobial agent against a bacterial isolate. The minimum inhibitory concentration is determined from a twofold dilution series (with 7 total concentrations and 1 growth control) as the lowest concentration of an antimicrobial agent that prevents visible growth of a microorganism. 

Determination of MIC enables interpretation into three categories (EUCAST): 

• Susceptible - The microorganism is defined as susceptible by a level of antimicrobial activity associated with a high probability of therapeutic success. 
• Susceptible, increased exposure - The microorganism is defined as susceptible with increased exposure by a level of antimicrobial activity associated with uncertain therapeutic effect. 
• Resistant - The microorganism is defined as resistant by a level of antimicrobial activity associated with a high probability of therapeutic failure. 

There are 2 formats available for MIKROLATEST MIC kits: 

• 6 different panels to cover antibiotic susceptibility testing of a wide range of most pathogenic groups of bacteria. Each kit contains 10 determinations, which consist of 12 antibiotics in 8 concentrations, including the growth control. 
• 20 single MIC Strips offering 36 determinations per kit.

MIKROLATEST BP

MIKROLATEST BP is an economical system that is designed for antibiotic susceptibility testing based on EUCAST breakpoint determinations. These are also designed for visual, or automated, reading. 

Breakpoints refer to standards of the European Committee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility testing (EUCAST issues 2011). Most is the antibiotics are represented by two (in exceptional cases this could be one or three) breakpoint concentrations, which enable the interpretation of either: sensitive, intermediate or resistant. 

MIKROLATEST ID

MIKROLATEST ID kits are designed to be user-friendly kits for microbial identification using traditional biochemical tests, which are also designed for visual, or automated, reading. These kits offer a comfortable and reliable way to identify the most important bacteria, and yeasts. Tests are place on divided microplates with 1, 2, or 3 row strips. Each plate contains strips for identification of 12, 6 or 4 strains, respectively. 

Only a relevant part of the plate, corresponding to the number of examined strains, can be used. The rest of the plate can be kept for future use. Reagents, suspension media, paraffin oil and additional tests can be supplied separately. Reagent necessary and non-reagent tests are available for most groups of microorganisms. Non-reagent kits bring even more working comfort, and save time. 

There are 4 categories that MIKROLATEST ID can be divided into: 

• Identification Kits 
• Diagnostic strips 
• Products for water microbiology

MIKROLATEST Identification Kits (more info)

See above for description on kits 

Non-reagent kits: 

• ENTEROtest 24 N
• STAPHYtest 24
• EN-COCCUStest
• NEISSERIAtest (suspension medium needed, supplied separately) 
• NEFERMtest 24
• STREPTOtest 24 (suspension medium needed, supplied separately)
• CANDIDA-Screen 

Reagents

Reagents enable visualisation/ strengthen the colour of the reaction. These reagents are standardised in preparation with the optimal composition. 

Parafin oil (Its been sterilised) 

Strong alkaline reactions in some of the tests (decarboxylases, indole, urease, etc) can influence reactions in surrounding wells, this can be avoided with the use of paraffin oil. 

Suspension media

Suspension media are enriched media which have been designed for the preparation of bacterial suspensions. They contribute considerably to the standardisation of the identification procedure, ensuring osmotic stabilisation, oxide-reduction potential, and growth promotion of bacterial strains. Sterilised media is supplied in vials, with the content of one vial being used to prepare the suspension for one strain. 

MIKROLATEST ID: Diagnostic Strips 

MIKROLATEST detection strips are plastic strips with a porous zone of filter paper, which contains reagent substrate for the detection of a bacterial enzyme or metabolite. These diagnostic strips are a user-friendly and economical alternative to diagnostic discs. According to their types, the bacterial culture being tested is either inoculated directly onto the reagent zone, or alternatively the strip itself is inserted into a tube containing an examined bacterial suspension and cultured. 

The detection strips can be used together with a MIKROLATEST ID kit for additional testing, or separately as an independent test. One package contains 50 test strips. 

MIKROLATEST ID: Products for water Microbiology 

These products are especially designed for microbiological water examination. They are designed for rapid, quantitative presumptive determinations of important bacteria in water by using membrane filtration. Filter discs are impregnated with reagent substrate for the detection of specific bacterial activity. The diameter of these discs is compatible with the diameter of standard membrane filters. Each kit provides 15 determinations. 

mOXItest

mOXItest is designed for rapid quantitative detection of cytchromeoxidase-positive bacteria. The presence is detected by a colour reaction of N,N-dimethyl 1.4-phenylenediamine with a-naphthol, accompanied by indophenol formation. The test is carried out by transferring a membrane filter with colonies on moistened pad of mOXItest and evaluation of oxidase reactions within 1-2 minutes. 

Advantages of mOXItest: 

• rapid determination, with results within 2 minutes. 
• Quantitative determination of oxidase positive bacteria in water 
• Simple to use 

mCOLItest

mCOLItest is designed for the rapid quantitative presumptive detection of E. coli. The principle of the method is based on the detection of B-glucuronidase, the enzyme characteristic for E. coli. B-glucuronidase hydrolyses substrate 4-methylumbellipheryl-B-D-glucuronide, which is contained in the mCOLItest's nutritive pad. The reaction forms 4-methylumbellipheron that fluoresces blue under UV light. 

Advantages of mCOLItest: 

• Rapid determination with results within 4 hours in comparison with standard agar culture. 
• Primary culture of membrane filters on any suitable agar for coliforms 
• Simple to use! 

With that, there's everything I'm going to talk about regarding Erba for this week! They do have more than just their MIKROLATEST line but outside of clinical microbiology. If you would like more information make sure to visit our Erba section on the news website for the catalogue and product specific information!

Welcome! Welcome!

We're once again back for our weekly (maybe a little longer) article about a product! 

This week we're focusing on something new, our own bench reagents. We supply quite a few so there's a lot to cover, in total we have: 

• Catalase
• Kovacs reagent
• KOH
• Oxidase strips
• Neisseria PET
• Spot Indole
• Pyrazinamidase test
• Nitrate discs
• Ninhydrin
• Nitrate reagents
• Urease
• Nitrocefin discs

As you can see we have quite a few, so let's get into it! 

To observe the action of these enzymes, catalase reagent, a dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide is added to a pure bacterial culture. Any immediate observed bubbling is indicative of a positive result, since oxygen is a byproduct of hydrogen peroxide decomposition. This test can also be useful in the differentiation of Gram-positive bacilli. 

Catalse 15%

CK9810, 5 x 3ml Vials

The Wadsworth manual recommends 15% hydrogen peroxide for the catalase testing of anaerobes as being more sensitive than 3%. NB. Care is needed when performing catalase tests on colonies growing on blood agar, as the medium itself will give a positive reaction.

The test can be done by impregnating the reagent onto a filter paper, and touching a colony, they rubbing it onto the impregnated paper by touching the colony with the swab impregnated with the reagent. 

The developing reagent CK9801 Ferrous sulphate as a solution has a short shelf-life, to overcome this problem, the reagent is therefore supplied as a pellet in the dropper bottles, to be reconstituted before use. 

All Neisseria species are oxidase positive, and most fermenting Gram-negative rods are oxidase negative, with the exception of some Vibrios, Aermonads, Pasturella and Chromobacteriae. 

Most non-fermenting Gram-negative rods are oxidase positive. The test involves smearing a portion of the freshly cultured colony onto a moistened strip and observing. The development of a blue/ black colour within 30 seconds indicates a positive reaction. The test is being carried out using colonies picked from a blood containing medium, using either a plastic or platinum loop, a nichrome loop may generate false positives and should not be used. 

Kovacs Reagent

CK9020 5 x 3ml Vials 

Kovacs reagent is intended to be used for the detection of tryptophanase production, which can be used as an aid in the differentiation of the Enterobacterales and other genera. The active ingredient of Kovacs reagent, p-dimethlyaminobenzaldehyde, reacts with indole to form a pink/red compound. 

Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) 3%

CK9860 5 x 3ml Vials 

KOH is intended for use in the differentiation of Gram-positive, and Gram-negative, organism. Being simple and easy to use, while being rapid and inexpensive. KOH can be used in addition to a Gram-stain for primary differentiation of bacterial isolates. 

Other Reagents in our Catalogue 

For more information on each please contact us via our website, our email or telephone. 

• Nitrate Discs - CK9850
• Ninhydrin 3.5% - CK9058
• Nitrate Reagent A - CK9841
• Nitrate Reagent B - CK9842
• Urease (15 Minutes) - CK3650
• Urease/Indole - CK4651

Anaerobe Identification 

These reagents are required for first day 'Level one' identification, recommended in the Wadsworth Anaerobic Bacteriology Manual. 

• Catalase 15% - CK9810
• KOH 3% - CK9860

Neisseria Detection 

Neisseria PET (preformed enzyme test) presumptively identifies N. gonorrhoea, meningitis and Lactamaca in 32 minutes. 

• Neisseria PET - CK3025
• Nitrocefin Discs - CK2001
• Oxidase Strips - CK3520

Whilst the use of a single test method, and clinical findings, may be considered sufficient for a presumptive identification, we would advise the use of at least 2 test methods involving different principles (such as biochemical, antigenic or molecular) before issuing a definitive/confirmed identification for Neisseria gonorrhoea (advice from the UKHSA SMI (Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea infection - testing by nucleic amplification tests (NAATs) - Virology, V37, Issue 5, 12.12.24))