A novel approach for identification of members of Enterobacteriaceae isolated from clinical samples

A simple algorithm is proposed for the identification of Enterobacteriaceae which routinely necessitates numerous biochemical tests and a prolonged time span [may extend upto 96 hours].This simple scheme is economical and time saving, reducing the turnaround time for identification of the pathogenic organisms to 24 hours, so that the final reports can be given to the clinician within the 3 day time frame. The basic tests used are catalase, oxidase, indole, citrate, urease, and phenylalanine. With this scheme, 12 genera and 23 species can be identified using these limited biochemicals which are within the reach of most of the microbiology laboratories having limited resources.