TABLE 3.
Comparison of five selective media for detection of Salmonella, after enrichment and 48 h of incubation, from 916 stool specimens from inpatients of three hospitals
| Medium | No. of strains detected after enrichment and incubation for 48 h
|
Sensitivityb (%) | Specificity (%) | Specificity after CT (%) | Efficiency without CT (%) | Efficiency after CT (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positives | False positives | False positives after CTa | ||||||
| ABC | 57 | 17 | 10 | 89.1 | 98 | 98.8 | 97 | 98 |
| COMPASS agar | 60 | 108 | 33 | 93.8 | 87.3 | 96.1 | 88 | 96 |
| CHROMagar Salmonella agar | 57 | 130 | 22 | 89.1 | 84.7 | 97.4 | 85 | 97 |
| SM ID agar | 55 | 83 | 52 | 85.9 | 90.3 | 93.6 | 90 | 92 |
| Hektoen | 63 | 215 | 151 | 98.4 | 74.8 | 82.3 | 76 | 83 |
a
CT = complementary tests. CT tests included microscopic examination to exclude yeasts and osidase testing to exclude pseudomonads.
b
A total of 64 isolates were recovered on at least one medium after enrichment (sensitivity 100%)