Medical Microbiology

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.

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Kayser, Medical Microbiology © 2005 Thieme