Mina Boustanshenas - Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, Rasul-e-Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Majid Akbari - Department of Microbiology, School of Nursing and midwifery, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran
Niloofar Rezaie - Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Background: Aeromonas spp. can cause diarrhea and various infections in humans. Access to rapid techniques with a high sensitivity andspecificity is strongly needed for the identification of Aeromonas species. The aim of this study was to evaluate two different methods including API 20E bacterial identification tests and the molecular detection using PCR primers specific for 16s-rRNA and 23S-rRNA genes sequences for identification of Aeromonas spp. in stool samples from patients with diarrhea.Materials and Methods: One hundred stool samples from diarrheal patients were collected. All isolates were subjected toAPI 20 E strip testsand PCR using specific primers for identification of Aeromonas spp.Results: The API 20E analysis identified 2 (2.2%) isolates as Aeromonas spp. Molecular identification by aero-23S-rRNA gene confirmed the same 2 isolates as identified by the API 20E strips. Conclusion: Both API 20E system and PCR method using Aero 23S-rRNA primer were found to be accurate in identification of Aeromonas spp. isolates with highconfidence.

API bacterial identification, Aeromonas spp., PCR