Usefulness of a Chromogenic Selective Agar for the Identification of Bacillus cereus Isolated from Blood Cultures / 대한진단검사의학회지

BACKGROUND: The incidence of Bacillus cereus bacteremia is increasing, but the identification of Bacillus species remains difficult. Brilliance Bacillus cereus agar (BBC agar; Oxoid, UK) is a new CHROMagar medium that allows selective isolation and identification of B. cereus; however, its clinical usefulness is seldom studied. We evaluated the usefulness of BBC agar to identify B. cereus isolates recovered from blood cultures. METHODS: We analyzed a total of 53 blood isolates that showed a Bacillus-like morphology on Gram staining. All isolates were identified by using both the API Coryne (bioMerieux, France) and API 50CH/B (bioMerieux) systems. They were subsequently subcultured on BBC agar, incubated for 24 hr, and then examined for characteristic blue-green colonies. The clinical characteristics of patients whose isolates were identified as B. cereus were assessed. RESULTS: Of the 53 isolates, 18 were identified as B. cereus by API 50CH/B. With the API 50CH/B system used as gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity for the identification of B. cereus were 100% (18/18) and 100% (35/35), respectively, using BBC agar, and 67% (12/18) and 100% (35/35), respectively, using the API Coryne system. Of the 18 patients with B. cereus bacteremia, 15 showed infectious signs, and 3 had more than 2 blood cultures positive for B. cereus on separate days. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows, for the first time, that BBC agar, with its good agreement and ease of use, is a valuable alternative to the API 50CH/B system for the presumptive identification of B. cereus isolates from blood cultures.

Compound Glycyrrhizin Combination with Matrine Treatment for Chronic Hepatitis B / 医学研究杂志

Objective To explore the effect of Compound Glycyrrhizin Combination with Matrine on treatment for Chronic Hepatitis B(CH-B).Methods Sixth-eight patients were devided,into treatment group 38 case and control group 30 case.Compound Glycyrrhizin Combination with Matrine were used daily in treatment group,and Matrine alone used daily in control group for eight weeks.The levels of ALT﹑AST﹑TBil and serum conversation of HBeAg and HBV-DNA were evaluated after treatment.Results The change of ALT﹑AST levels were not significantly in two groups.The level of TBil was more decread in treatment group than control group,there was a significantly difference (P