Abstract
MOST Streptococci are satisfactorily differentiated by relatively simple biochemical methods. Among the exceptions are Streptococcus pyogenes (group A) and the ‘Human C’ Streptococcus (group C), which are differentiated with reliability only by Lancefield's serological technique1. Wilson and Rosenblum2 showed that 477 cultures of S. pyogenes failed to multiply in raw milk sterilized with ethylene oxide while 31 cultures of group C Streptococci, of which at least 11 were ‘Human C’, always grew well in this medium. Recently, Levinson and Frank3 have published a method utilizing bacitracin for the differentiation of group A Streptococci. Approximately 10 per cent of their 67 group C strains were not differentiated. They mention the possibility of resistant group A strains emerging as a result of the clinical use of bacitracin. Since S. pyogenes and ‘Human C’ Streptococci are not readily distinguished biochemically by any single test or combinations of such tests1,4 in present use, a medium and method of differentiating them are of interest.
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References
Sherman, J. M., Bact. Rev., 1, 3 (1937).
Wilson, A. T., and Rosenblum, H., J. Exp. Med., 95, 25 (1952).
Levinson, M. L., and Frank, P. F., J. Bacteriol., 69, 284 (1955).
Gunnison, J. B., Luxen, M. P., Cummings, J. R., and Marshall, M. S., J. Bacteriol., 39, 689 (1940).
From the Laboratory of Bacteriology, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and designated as follows: S. pyogenes—C203S, A4, A6, A8, A9, A11; ‘Human C’—C519, C556, 7078.
Henningson, R. W., and Kosikowski, F. V., J. Dairy Sci., 40, 818 (1957).
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HENNINGSON, R. Biochemical Differentiation of Group A and ‘Human C’ Streptococci . Nature 183, 182 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/183182a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/183182a0
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