Isolation and rapid identification of Haemophilus ducreyi

Abstract

During a 2 mo. period, 62 strains of H. ducreyi were isolated from 158 genital lesions and 2 lymph node aspirates. Of these strains, 22 were found on both chocolate agar and fetal bovine serum agar supplemented with vancomycin, 29 were found only on chocolate agar and 9 were found only on fetal bovine serum agar. Two additional strains were isolated on sheep blood agar. All of these isolates were correctly identified with the RapID NH system, a new identification kit that has a database for Haemophilus, Neisseria and other genera that include fastidious gram-negative bacilli.