Evaluation of modified New York City carbohydrate medium for the speciation of Neisseria.

A comparative study of modified New York City carbohydrate medium, Minitek (BBL Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, Md.) and cystine-trypticase agar was conducted for determination of the relative accuracies of these media in the identification of pathogenic Neisseria. Of 170 isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, 169 were correctly identified by New York City carbohydrate media, 131 by Minitek, and 117 by cystine-trypticase agar. Of the 72 isolates of Neisseria meningitidis tested, all were accurately speciated by New York City carbohydrate media, whereas Minitek and cystine-trypticase agar identified 61 and 49 strains, respectively. The greater reliability of New York City carbohydrate media is accompanied by advantages not offered by the other media.