A comparison study of the EF-18 agar/Hydrophobic Grid Membrane Filter (HGMF) method and the enzyme linked antibody (ELA)/HGMF method to the HPB standard method in the isolation of Salmonella.

As part of a comparative and collaborative study of rapid methods for the detection of Salmonella and the standard Health Protection Branch (HPB) method, six Federal and Provincial Laboratories compared the EF-18 agar/Hydrophobic Grid Membrane Filters (HGMF) method to the standard HPB method. Two Federal Laboratories also compared the enzyme linked antibody (ELA)/HGMF method (which is a further development of the EF-18 agar/HGMF method) to the standard method. During this study the false-negative rates ranged from 0% to 15% for the standard HPB method, from 5.88% to 43.5% for the EF-18 agar/HGMF method, and from 0% to 10.5% for the ELA/HGMF method. The EF-18 agar/HGMF method did not compare well with the standard HPB method due to the number of false-negatives. Problems with this method resulted from the inability to isolate colonies of Salmonella on the HGMF due to the small colony size, abnormal colony coloration, and overgrowth by competitors. The ELA/HGMF method, however, was shown to be comparable to the standard HPB method. The main advantages of this method are that the antibody-staining step is independent of colony coloration and carbohydrate utilization on the plating media; the ability to detect some unusual strains of Salmonella irrespective of their atypical reactions on the media; and the ELA staining can indicate the presence of Salmonella even when the HGMF is overgrown by competitors. Also, cultural confirmation can proceed simultaneously yet independently of the ELA staining procedure. The data presented here indicate that this method is worth further study.