Comparison of two systems for identification of anaerobic bacteria.

The RapID Ana and the API 20A systems for identification of anaerobic bacteria were compared for accuracy on 108 recent isolates of gram-negative and gram-positive anaerobic bacteria. No additional tests or gas-liquid chromatography were used. RapID Ana identified 91.7% of the isolated strains to species level and 6.5% to genus level but failed to identify 1.8% of the total strains. API 20A identified 85.2% of strains to species level, 3.7% to genus level but failed to identify 11.1% of the total strains. Although the difference between the identification rates of the two systems was not significant, it was concluded that RapID Ana was easier to perform and interpret.