Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Applied and Environmental Microbiology logoLink to Applied and Environmental Microbiology
. 1995 Dec;61(12):4178–4183. doi: 10.1128/aem.61.12.4178-4183.1995

Modification of kanamycin-esculin-azide agar to improve selectivity in the enumeration of fecal streptococci from water samples.

A Audicana 1, I Perales 1, J J Borrego 1
PMCID: PMC167729  PMID: 8534085

Abstract

Kanamycin-esculin-azide agar was modified by increasing the concentration of sodium azide to 0.4 g liter-1 and replacing kanamycin sulfate with 5 mg of oxolinic acid liter-1. The modification, named oxolinic acid-esculin-azide (OAA) agar, was compared with Slanetz-Bartley and KF agars by using drinking water and seawater samples. The OAA agar showed higher specificity, selectivity, and recovery efficiencies than those obtained by using the other media. In addition, no confirmation of typical colonies was needed when OAA agar was used, which significantly shortens the time of sample processing and increases the accuracy of the method.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (181.8 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Daoust R. A., Litsky W. Pfizer selective enterococcus agar overlay method for the enumeration of fecal streptococci by membrane filtration. Appl Microbiol. 1975 May;29(5):584–589. doi: 10.1128/am.29.5.584-589.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Devriese L. A., Hommez J., Wijfels R., Haesebrouck F. Composition of the enterococcal and streptococcal intestinal flora of poultry. J Appl Bacteriol. 1991 Jul;71(1):46–50. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Donnelly L. S., Hartman P. A. Gentamicin-based medium for the isolation of group D streptococci and application of the medium to water analysis. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1978 Mar;35(3):576–581. doi: 10.1128/aem.35.3.576-581.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Levin M. A., Cabelli V. J. Membrane filter technique for enumeration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Appl Microbiol. 1972 Dec;24(6):864–870. doi: 10.1128/am.24.6.864-870.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Mates A., Bar-Dov L., Ghinsburg R. Improved m-Enterococcus agar for counting faecal streptococci in sea water. Microbios. 1994;79(319):97–100. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Mossel A. A., Bijker P. G., Eelderink I. Streptococci of Lancefield Groups A, B and D and those of buccal origin in foods: their public health significance, monitoring and control. Soc Appl Bacteriol Symp Ser. 1978;7:315–334. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Mossel D. A., Bonants-Van Laarhoven T. M., Ligtenberg-Merkus A. M., Werdler M. E. Quality assurance of selective culture media for bacteria, moulds and yeasts: an attempt at standardization at the international level. J Appl Bacteriol. 1983 Jun;54(3):313–327. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1983.tb02623.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mossel D. A., Van Netten P. Harmful effects of selective media on stressed micro-organisms: nature and remedies. Soc Appl Bacteriol Symp Ser. 1984;(12):329–369. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Niemi R. M., Ahtiainen J. Enumeration of intestinal enterococci and interfering organisms with Slanetz-Bartley agar, KF streptococcus agar and the MUST method. Lett Appl Microbiol. 1995 Feb;20(2):92–97. doi: 10.1111/j.1472-765x.1995.tb01294.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Oragui J. I., Mara D. D. A note on a modified membrane-Bovis agar for the enumeration of Streptococcus bovis by membrane filtration. J Appl Bacteriol. 1984 Feb;56(1):179–181. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1984.tb04712.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Pagel J. E., Hardy G. M. Comparison of selective media for the enumeration and identification of fecal streptococci from natural sources. Can J Microbiol. 1980 Nov;26(11):1320–1327. doi: 10.1139/m80-219. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Pavlova M. T., Brezenski F. T., Litsky W. Evaluation of various media for isolation, enumeration and identification of fecal streptococci from natural sources. Health Lab Sci. 1972 Oct;9(4):289–298. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Petts D. N. Colistin-oxolinic acid-blood agar: a new selective medium for streptococci. J Clin Microbiol. 1984 Jan;19(1):4–7. doi: 10.1128/jcm.19.1.4-7.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Pourcher A. M., Devriese L. A., Hernandez J. F., Delattre J. M. Enumeration by a miniaturized method of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus bovis and enterococci as indicators of the origin of faecal pollution of waters. J Appl Bacteriol. 1991 Jun;70(6):525–530. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1991.tb02752.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Switzer R. E., Evans J. B. Evaluation of selective media for enumeration of group D streptococci in bovine feces. Appl Microbiol. 1974 Dec;28(6):1086–1087. doi: 10.1128/am.28.6.1086-1087.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Van Netten P., Van der Zee H., Mossel D. A. A note on catalase enhanced recovery of acid injured cells of gram negative bacteria and its consequences for the assessment of the lethality of L-lactic acid decontamination of raw meat surfaces. J Appl Bacteriol. 1984 Aug;57(1):169–173. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1984.tb02370.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Yoshpe-Purer Y. Evaluation of media for monitoring fecal streptococci in seawater. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1989 Aug;55(8):2041–2045. doi: 10.1128/aem.55.8.2041-2045.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Applied and Environmental Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES