This study reports the patterns of agglutination of 77 clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by 32 commercially available lectins. Cell suspensions were not pre-treated. Each isolate was cultured on three media: Columbia blood agar, trypticase-soy agar and Chapman Stone agar. The lectins agglutinating each isolate varied widely depending on culture medium; only five isolates were agglutinated by the same set of lectins regardless of the culture medium used. Lectin typing could be a useful epidemiological tool, but it is necessary to standardise assay conditions (notably culture medium) to enable meaningful comparison of the results produced by different research groups or centres.

This study reports the patterns of agglutination of 93 clinical Candida isolates by 14 commercial lectins. The isolates were of the species Candida albicans (55), C. tropicalis (12), C. guilliermondii (10). C. glabrata (eight) and C. parapsilosis (eight). Hundred percent of isolates were agglutinated, at least, by a panel of three lectins: Canavalia ensiformis (ConA), Lens culinaris (LCA) and Pisum sativum (PSA), all of them with alpha-D-mannose specificity. In addition, another panel of three lectins could distinguish between C. glabrata, C. tropicalis and C. albicans. Lectin typing may be of potential value for taxonomic and epidemiological studies of yeasts in clinical laboratories.