Comparison of micro-ID with API 20E for identification of Salmonella, Shigella and Yersinia species.

Micro-ID is a new kit system for the identification of Enterobacteriaceae in 4 h. It consists of 15 biochemical tests with paper discs. A study was conducted to compare the accuracy of the Micro-ID system with that of the API 20E system for identification of Salmonella, Shigella and Yersinia species. Both systems correctly identified 57 out of 59 (97%) Shigella strains. Micro-ID correctly identified two Salmonella typhi strains, whereas API 20E incorrectly identified one. Of 138 Salmonella strains of other serotypes, 135 (98%) were correctly identified by Micro-ID and 130 (94%) by API 20E. The respective figures for the Yersinia strains were 40 out of 45 (89%) and 30 out of 45 (66%). It is concluded that Micro-ID is at least equal to API 20E in its ability to identify Salmonella, Shigella and Yersinia species.