A 29-year-old male was seen by his primary care physician for a large boil located on his neck. The physician lanced the boil and expressed a large amount of pus. A sample was sent to the laboratory for culture.
The culture yielded heavy growth of a yellow pigmented, beta-hemolytic colony. The Gram stain revealed gram-positive cocci in clusters. The organism was catalase positive and Staphylococcus latex agglutination negative. You would:
A) boil a suspension of the organism and repeat the latex agglutination test.
B) perform a thermonuclease test.
C) report the organism as normal skin flora.
D) report the organism as Staphylococcus aureus.
Question 2
A small, slender, gram-negative rod was recovered from the blood cultures of a patient following root canal surgery. At 48 hours, the following results were observed:
BAP and CHOC agars: small gray colonies that tend to pit the agar
MAC agar: no growth
Odor upon opening the agar plates: bleach-like
This organism will also be
A) catalase negative and oxidase positive. B) catalase and oxidase negative.
C) catalase and oxidase positive. D) catalase positive and oxidase negative.