Evaluation of ATB 32 A system for automated identification of anaerobic bacteria

: A new automated system for identification of anaerobes in 4 hours, ATB 32 A, was evaluated with 124 strains isolated in routine and 10 collection strains, and was compared with techniques commonly used in the hospital. The system allowed identification of 89.5% (111/124) of clinical strains, including 6.4% (7/124) strains needing extra tests; 5.6% (7/124) strains were not identified and 4.8% (6/124) were incorrectly identified. ATB 32 A is an interesting way of identifying quite a difficult bacterial group.