ABSTRACT
The ‘rst rapid microbiological methods developed were those intended to facilitate the identi‘cation of bacteria by biochemical tests.2 The individual reactions used to be very laborious and time-consuming, but the development of miniaturized biochemical assays became very popular since the 1950s.5 Techniques that could accelerate the determination of viable cell count were also among the early rapid methods. The spiral plating method was developed to automate the plate counting process, and the Petri‘lm® system (3M Co., St. Paul, MN) provided a convenient alternative to standard plate agar methods.6 The measurement of adenosine triphosphate using bioluminescence also provided a rapid estimation of bacterial numbers.7
