A centrifugation-shell vial technique for herpes simplex virus detected the virus in 50 (24.6%) of 203 specimens by cytopathic effect at 48 h, compared with detection of the virus in 47 (23.2%) specimens by immunofluorescence at 24 h. The rapid detection of cytopathic effect may be useful to laboratories that are not interested in typing all herpes simplex virus specimens but that wish to reduce the cost of herpesvirus cultures.

The Vitek AutoMicrobic System with GSC-plus cards and the Abbott MS-2 system were tested in parallel and the results were compared directly with those of a reference microdilution minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) procedure on a group of 262 clinical isolates of the family Enterobacteriaceae and of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results of both systems were compared with the reference MIC for category agreement, and in addition, the Vitek MICs were compared with those obtained by the reference procedure. The Vitek system provided an essential category correlation of 89.4% for enteric bacteria and 97.0% for P. aeruginosa. Vitek MICs agreed within 1 twofold dilutional increment for 86.3% of the enteric bacteria tested and for 96.2% of the P. aeruginosa isolates. The Abbott MS-2 essential categoric agreement was 92.0% for enteric bacteria and 92.4% for P. aeruginosa. If only aminoglycosides or carbenicillin were considered for P. aeruginosa isolates, the essential category agreement was 92.5% for the Vitek and 93.3% for the MS-2. The majority of MS-2 category errors (13 of 19) with P. aeruginosa involved gentamicin results on isolates whose reference MICs were 8 micrograms/ml and whose MS-2 results were susceptible (MIC less than or equal to 4 micrograms/ml). Retesting of the P. aeruginosa isolates in calcium-supplemented MS-2 broth increased the essential agreement for the aminoglycosides to 97.5%.

A total of 293 sera, submitted for rubella immune status, were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and two passive agglutination procedures. The Rubascan Kit showed a higher agreement (97.6%) with ELISA than the Rubaquick Kit (95.2%). Rubascan was also easier to read, especially low-positive sera.

A bacteriophage-typing schema was developed for differentiating strains of Shigella sonnei. Sixty-seven bacteriophages were obtained from other collections, and 36 bacteriophages were isolated from sewage. From these 103 bacteriophages, a provisional set of 12 was chosen by computer analysis as being the most sensitive in differentiating strains of S. sonnei isolated in the United States. The provisional schema was used to type 265 strains from different geographical areas. It divided them into 87 different lysis patterns, and all 265 strains were typable. Smooth and rough colonial variants of the same strain had different lysis patterns, so the technique was standardized to type rough colonies only. Reproducibility was difficult to obtain until all conditions were carefully standardized. Changes in results were noted even on different lot numbers of Trypticase soy agar, which was defined as the standard medium. So that the medium would not be a variable, 100 pounds (ca 453.5 kg) of the same lot number was purchased. Bacteriophage typing was very useful in differentiating strains, and work should continue on establishing a standarized schema.