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. 1987 May;25(5):876–878. doi: 10.1128/jcm.25.5.876-878.1987

Congo red uptake by motile Aeromonas species.

B Statner, W L George
PMCID: PMC266108  PMID: 3584422

Abstract

Virulence of several species of enteropathogenic bacteria has been correlated with the ability of isolates to take up the dye Congo red. To determine whether Congo red uptake might be a useful marker for virulence of motile Aeromonas species, we examined 50 strains of diverse clinical origin on a medium containing 50 micrograms of Congo red per ml. All of the strains took up the dye to various degrees. For most strains, uptake was greatest at 37 degrees C and least at 22 degrees C. Production of acetyl methyl carbinol (Voges-Proskauer test) or lysine decarboxylase has been reported by some investigators to be a virulence marker for Aeromonas species. Congo red uptake did not correlate with either acetyl methyl carbinol or lysine decarboxylase production in our study. These data suggest that Congo red uptake may not be a useful marker for virulence of motile Aeromonas species.

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Selected References

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

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