Topic Popovic N ; Benussi Skukan A ; Strunjak-Perovic I ; Coz-Rakovac R ; Hacmanjek M ; Hunjak B ;

Veterinary Research Communications vol. 28 (2)   pp. 93-101, 2004

Rudjer Boskovic Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. ntopic@irb.hr

The ability of two commercial rapid identification systems, API 20E and BBL Crystal E/NF, to reliably identify bacterial isolates from the internal organs of reared sea bass were compared. The tests gave different results: API 20E identified bacteria as Pseudomonas spp. with 37% accuracy, while BBL Crystal E/NF identified them as Flavobacterium odoratum with 99% accuracy. Although F. odoratum is not a marine fish pathogen, conventional tests conducted with the same isolates were more indicative of them being Flavobacterium spp. than Pseudomonas spp., suggesting that BBL Crystal E/NF was more reliable in this identification. Both systems were found to be applicable for diagnostics of marine fish pathogens, but should be used with caution because of possible misinterpretation.

Animals ;  Aquaculture ;  Bacterial Typing Techniques ;  Bass ;  Microbiology ;  Comparative Study ;  DNA ;  Bacterial ;  Analysis ;  Diagnosis ;  Differential ;  Fish Diseases ;  Flavobacteriaceae Infections ;  Veterinary ;  Flavobacterium ;  Classification ;  Genetics ;  Isolation & purification ;  Pseudomonas ;  Pseudomonas Infections ;  Sensitivity and Specificity ;