The effect of different brands of MacConkey and xylose lysine deoxycholate agar on the isolation of Aeromonas hydrophila.

Aeromonas hydrophila has been reported to be involved in the opportunistic infection of human beings, therefore, its rapid diagnosis from the clinical specimens was considered to be extremely important for the prognosis. The effect of different brands of MacConkey (MAC) and xylose lysine deoxycholate (XLD) agars on the plating efficiency and colony size of A. hydrophila was evaluated by comparing with blood agar. Results indicate that (i) except Eiken's MAC have low plating efficiency, all the MAC from BBL, Difco, Mast, Merck, and Gibco have good plating efficiency; (ii) except Eiken's and Gibco XLD, all XLD from Difco, Mast, and Merck have larger bacterial colony size; and (iii) colonies of A. hydrophila appeared on MAC are larger than those on XLD of the same brands. We suggested that a clinical laboratory microbiologist should be alert in selecting the appropriate media to isolate the clinically important bacteria.