Efficiency of Plating Media and Enrichment Broths for Isolating Salmonella Species from Human Stool Samples: A Comparison Study

A comparative study was performed to evaluate best practice culture media and enrichment broths for recovering Salmonella species from human stool samples. A total of 1297 human stools were collected and processed in this study. Evaluation of agar media was carried out by direct plating (DP), 1096 stool samples were inoculated on Modified Semisolid Rappaport-Vassiliadis (MSRV), Xylose-Lysine-Deoxycolate (XLD), MacConkey (MAC), and Hektoen Enteric (HE) agars. Evaluation of enrichment broths were carried out by enrichment all 1297 stool samples in Selenite broth (SB), Rappaport-Vassiliadis (RV) broth, and Buffered Peptone Water (BPW), followed by plating on MSRV, MAC, and HE agars. A total of 102 Salmonella-positive stools by DP, 85.3% (87/102) were recovered utilizing MSRV while recovery from XLD, MAC, and HE agars were 34.3% (35/102), 34.3% (35/102), and 29.4% (30/102) respectively. A total 299/1297 stools samples were Salmonella-positive on at least one plating medium after enrichment procedure were 77.3% (177/299) for SB, 86.0% (197/299) and 78.6% (180/299) for RV and BPW respectively. All Salmonella isolated in this study was nontyphi Salmonella. Presently, the data suggest that the use of MSRV over MAC, HE, and XLD agars for isolation nontyphi Salmonella species from human stools is more efficacious. Additionally, use of MSRV in combination with MAC and HE agars following enrichment in RV broth enhances recovery of nontyphi Salmonella species. However, RV broth is inhibitory to typhi Salmonella, thus use of MSRV medium in combination with MAC, HE or XLD agars in direct plating following enrichment in non-selective BPW is an alternate method for recovery of both typhi and nontyphi Salmonella species contaminated in human stool samples.