Víbrios não coléricos na rotina enterobacteriológica / Non-cholera vibrios in enterobacteriologic routine

ABSTRACT

Of 3250 diarrheal stools received for microbiologic diagnosis at a private clinical laboratory in Recife, Brazil, strains of Vibrio were isolated from 55 (1.7). The study was carried out from May 1989 through May 1991. For recovering Vibrio, fecal samples were enriched in alkaline peptone water supplemented with 2 NaCl and subcultured on thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose agar (TCBS). Of the recovered species, V. parahaemolyticus was most commonly found (24 strains), followed by V. furnissii (15 strains), V. cholerae non-01 (6 strains), V. alginolyticus (4 strains), V. fluvialis (2 strains), and Vibrio sp. (1 strain). The low isolation rate of Vibrio raises doubts about the cost-effectiveness of the use of TCBS in the routine enterobacteriologic workup of clinical laboratories.