Comparison of transcription-mediated amplification and growth-based methods for the quantitation of Enterococcus bacteria in environmental waters.

An assay based on transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) technology was used to quantitate Enterococcus fecal indicator bacteria in environmental water samples. The results generated by this and two growth-based methods relative to the 104 most-probable-number or CFU-per-100-ml threshold show that the three methods are in good qualitative agreement when tested against a range of water samples taken from different locations. The results demonstrate sensitive and rapid detection (approximately 4 h from sample collection to result) and quantitation of Enterococcus bacteria compared to the results with the growth-based methods.