Neisseria,Moraxella,andAcinetobacter 275
Diagnosis.Themethodofchoiceisdetectionofthepathogensbymeansof
methyleneblueandgramstainingandculturing.Gonococciaresensitivein
culturesandthematerialmustbeusedimmediatelyaftertheyareobtained
toinoculateThayer-Martinbloodagarwithantibioticsaddedtoeliminate
accompanyingflora,onwhichmediumtheculturesarethentransported
tothelaboratory.Theidentificationprocedureinvolvesbothmorphology
andbiochemicalcharacteristics.Techniquesdevelopedrecentlyutilizeim-
munofluorescenceorcoagglutinationmethods(p. 21 7)utilizingmonoclonal
antibodiestothemainproteinoftheoutermembrane,Por.
Directdetectioninpusandsecretionsamplesispossibleusinganenzy-
maticimmunosorbencetestordetectionofgonococcus-specificDNAse-
quencescodingforrRNAusingageneprobe.
NeisseriagonorrhoeaeandNeisseriameningitidis
Fig.4. 16 a N.gonorrheae: gram
stainingofapreparationofurethral
secretion:coffee-bean-shapeddi-
plococci,groupedwithinagranulo-
cyte.Clinicaldiagnosis:gonorrhea.
bN.meningitidis:gramstainingof
apreparationofcerebrospinalfluid
sediment.Clinicaldiagnosis:acute
purulentmeningitis.
4
Kayser, Medical Microbiology © 2005 Thieme