A comparison of the STAPH-Ident and STAPH-Trac systems to conventional methods in the identification of staphylococci isolated from bovine udders.

The STAPH-Ident and STAPH-Trac systems (Analytab Products, Plainview, N.Y.) were compared to conventional methods for identification of staphylococci isolated from bovine udders. The STAPH-Ident system identified 80.5% of isolates correctly. An additional 7.6% of Staphylococcus hyicus strains were delineated from S. epidermidis by characterizing acetoin and pigment production. Final accuracy of the STAPH-Ident system was 88.1%. The STAPH-Trac system identified 66.1% of isolates. Negative phosphatase tests for 42.3% of S. hyicus strains resulted in misidentification as S. simulans. Consequently, only 45.5% of S. hyicus isolates were identified correctly by the STAPH-Trac system. Minor modification of each system would permit accurate, rapid identification of staphylococci isolated from bovine udders.