Serotyping of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains by slide coagglutination.

Serological typing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains (228 strains) by slide coagglutination, using our own reagents (5 polyvalent and 22 monovalent ones, corresponding to the 22 serotypes in Meitert-Meitert scheme), led to identical results obtained by conventional slide agglutination. Utilization of live Ps. aeruginosa cells suspensions, killed by boiling or autoclaving, showed a 100% concordance of results, when using the second and the third suspension types and a 97.37% one between them and the live cells suspension. We noticed that reactions intensity was higher when using bacterial suspensions, boiled for 2.5 hours, in comparison with autoclaved cells suspensions, 30 minutes at 120 C. Compared to conventional slide agglutination, the slide coagglutination presents more advantages, being simple, rapid, specific and economical.