Adaptation of a coculture technique to the Minitek anaerobe system

A method to produce anaerobic conditions by coculture with a nonfermentative organism was utilized in conjunction with the Minitek anaerobe system (BBL Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, Md.) for identification of anaerobic bacteria from clinical specimens. With the coculture method, the Minitek anaerobe identification tests could be incubated under aerobic conditions. In 1,900 individual biochemical reactions, 1,826 (96%) were identical whether anaerobic conditions were achieved by conventional or coculture techniques. In comparison with the reference identification (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg), both systems of incubation identified 91 of 99 strains (92%) correctly. The method of incubation had an effect on identification to the genus level in 1 of 99 (1%) strains and to the species level in 3 of 99 (3%) strains.