[Fluorescent antibody technique in identification of Neisseria gonorrhoeae-microcolonies grown on membrane filters (author's transl)].

Filter membranes (Nucleopore, No. N060, CPR 01300, pore size 0.6 mu) are inoculated with a pure suspension of N. gonorrhoeae or a Urethral smear from patients suffering from gonococcal urethritis. The membranes are placed on chocolate agar and incubated for three hours. After fixation in formaldehyd, grown microcolonies of N. gonorrhoea are detected microscopically after incubation of the membranes with a fluorescein-isothiocyanate labeled gonococcal antiserum (Difco, charge no. 605907) (Fig. 3--5). The high specificity of the antiserum was shown by lack of reaction with various other neisseriae (except for N. meningitidis, which showed a weak positive reaction) or other bacteria, respectively (table 1). To investigate the reliability of the new method urethral smears of 23 patients suffering from acute or chronic gonorrhoea were examined by culturing for gonococci in the conventional way and by means of the new technique. In all cases gonocococci were detected with both methods. This suggests that the fluorescent antibody technique has at least the same sensibility as the conventional one, and has the advantage that the result is obtained within one day.