Comparison of Enteric-Tek with API 20E and conventional methods for identification of Enterobacteriaceae.

Enteric-Tek (Flow Laboratories, Inc., Roslyn, N.Y.) is a new system designed for the identification of Enterobacteriaceae and consists of a round, multicompartmented plastic plate with 11 peripheral wells and 1 center well incorporating 14 biochemical reactions. Only one reagent (Kovacs reagent) is required to complete the biochemical test results for generation of a five-digit number for computer code identification. The identification accuracy of the Enteric-Tek system was compared with those obtained by conventional methods and API 20E. The Enteric-Tek system was found to be not only a convenient and simple method for rapid identification of Enterobacteriaceae, but also to be highly reliable, giving excellent identification performance as compared to API 20E and conventional methods.