BacterTube™ Bile Esculin Agar (BEA)

INTENDED USE

BacterTube™ Bile Esculin Agar (BEA) is recommended for use as a differential medium in the isolation and presumptive identification of enterococci/ group D streptococci.

PRINCIPLES

BacterTube™ Bile Esculin Agar (BEA) contains esculin, ferric citrate to provide ferric ions, and 4% oxbile to inhibit most other strains of nongroup D streptococci. Esculin is hydrolyzed by group D streptococci to form dextrose and esculetin. This compound reacts with the ferric ions contained within the medium, turning the medium from its original amber color to a dark brown to black. Thus the tolerance to the presence of oxbile and the hydrolysis of esculin provide the means to presumptively identify group D streptococci.

Allow the BacterTube™ Bile Esculin Agar (BEA) warm to room temperature before use.
Inoculate and streak the medium with one isolated pure colony.
Incubate in an aerobic atmosphere at 35ºC for 24-48 hours.
Observe for growth and blackening of the medium.

NOTE:

This product is not intended for primary isolation of patient specimens. It should be used only with cultures of isolated organism.
This product is used in conjunction with other biochemical tests to identify cultures of isolated organism.

RESULTS

The enterococci appear as small translucent colonies surrounded by a black halo.
Staphylococci and yeasts may yield opaque colonies without a black halo.
It is indispensable to identify suspected bacteria, especially to eliminate confusion with Listeria which may give rise to colonies similar to those of enterococci.

BacterLab ensures the quality of each product batch by testing with ATCC reference strains.

Reference Strains

Incubation Conditions

Expected Results

Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212

35 – 37°C

18 – 24 hours, aerobic

Good growth, black zone around the colony

Streptococcus pyogenes ATCC 19615

Inhibited, no growth

For 1 liter of medium

pH of the ready-to-use medium at 25°C: 7,1 ± 0,2

*Note: This ingredient is for reference only our company will formulate the ingredient according to requests or tender specifications.

Product Name	Code	Packaging
BacterTube™ Bile Esculin Agar (BEA)	08031	50 tubes/ box or as per customer request.