Vancomycin sensitivity and KOH string test as an alternative to gram staining of bacteria.

Two hundred and eighteen bacterial isolates obtained from various clinical samples were subjected to Gram stain by conventional method. For all the isolates potassium hydroxide (KOH) string test and sensitivity to vancomycin were done. Gram positive bacteria showed 100% sensitivity to vancomycin as also 100% negativity for string test. Of the gram negative bacteria, 99.42% were resistant to vancomycin while 98.85% were positive for the string test. KOH and vancomycin tests are simple, inexpensive and can be used in addition to Gram staining for rapid identification of bacterial cultures.