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Chromogenic media for the detection of Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi A in human stool samples: evaluation in a reference setting

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Abstract

Detection of Salmonella Paratyphi A stool carriers by conventional stool culture media is hindered by the absence of hydrogen sulphide production compared to most other Salmonella serovars. This study evaluated the detection of Salmonella Paratyphi A in stool samples using Salmonella chromogenic media compared to a conventional medium. Four chromogenic media, COMPASS Salmonella agar (Biokar Diagnostics, Beauvais, France), BBL™ CHROMagar™ Salmonella (BD Diagnostics, Erembodegem-Aalst, Belgium), Brilliance™ Salmonella agar (Oxoid Ltd., Basingstoke, UK) and Salmonella PLUS CHROMagar™ (CHROMagar, Paris, France), were compared to conventional Salmonella-Shigella agar (Oxoid Ltd.). The colony morphology of 29 freshly grown stock isolates (Salmonella and competing organisms) was assessed. The limit of detection (LOD) was also determined using saline and stool suspensions. Finally, recognizability of Salmonella Paratyphi A isolates was assessed using 20 human stool samples spiked with different concentrations of Salmonella Paratyphi A. All Salmonella Paratyphi A isolates demonstrated detectable growth with typical purple-coloured colonies that could be clearly differentiated from competing organisms on all four chromogenic media. The LOD for Salmonella Paratyphi A was 103 colony-forming units (CFU)/ml for all media, except for Brilliance agar (105 CFU/ml of stool). Salmonella Paratyphi A was easy to differentiate from competing organisms in the spiked stool samples. Colony yields improved when an enrichment step (Selenite-F broth (BD Diagnostics, Erembodegem-Aalst, Belgium)) and prolonged incubation for 48 h were performed. Chromogenic media demonstrated good specificity and a low LOD for the detection of Salmonella Paratyphi A in stool samples.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Marleen Verlinden of the Central Laboratory of Clinical Biology (ITM, Antwerp) for technical support and Kara Osbak and Michael Naan for language editing.

Funding

LMFK was supported by the Flemish Ministry of Sciences (EWI, SOFI project IDIS) (http://www.ewi-vlaanderen.be/en).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium

    L. M. F. Kuijpers, A. S. Post & J. Jacobs

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    L. M. F. Kuijpers & J. Jacobs

Authors
  1. L. M. F. Kuijpers
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  2. A. S. Post
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  3. J. Jacobs
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Correspondence to L. M. F. Kuijpers.

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Ethical approval

The use of clinical stool samples for the purpose of this study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the ITM (ref. IRB/AB/ac/019, dated August 1, 2015).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was not necessary from patients as it concerned leftover anonymized samples collected during routine care.

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Kuijpers, L.M.F., Post, A.S. & Jacobs, J. Chromogenic media for the detection of Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi A in human stool samples: evaluation in a reference setting. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 37, 2181–2190 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-018-3360-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-018-3360-1

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