Computer‐aided Numerical Identification of Gram negative Fermentative Rods on a Desk‐top Computer

One hundred and sixty‐three strains of Gram negative fermentative rods isolated from humans and 60 isolated from diseased snails were identified by a conventional method and by numerical identification on a desk‐top computer. The two methods gave the same identities with 133 ‘human strains’ and 33 ‘snail strains’. The possible sources of the differences in identifications are discussed. The study showed that numerical identification done on a desk‐top computer can be a useful method for routine medical microbiological laboratories.