ABSTRACT
Conventional methods for the identification of microorganisms have been automated with the development of agar replica systems and microdilution systems. Despite the fact that these systems must be incubated for the same period as conventional biochemical identification tests, they have a number of advantages. First, low cost per individual identification test; Second, standardization of test inoculation and interpretation; and improved accuracy of identification. These different systems are analyzed in the chapter. After overnight incubation of the tests, the agar plates are arranged on the viewing-recording platform. Brown and Washington1 reported in 1978 that the Repliscan®system was able to identify 91.0% of the fermentative Gram-negative bacilli but only 73.9% of the nonfermentative organisms. Multiple organisms are inoculated onto individual biochemical plates in a manner similar to that with Repliscan® The major advantages of the CARP system in comparison with the Repliscan®system are the speed of data entry and retrieval and reduced cost of the instrumentation.
