Patent ID: 8334112

Claim:
A method for detecting and/or identifying Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) in a biological sample, the method comprising: a) inoculating the biological sample liable to contain E. coli on a detection medium that comprises: tryptophan and a reagent for spontaneously detecting deaminase activity, a substrate for an enzyme A, wherein enzyme A is expressed by a majority of E. coli , and a substrate for an enzyme B that is not expressed by a majority of E. coil, in order to obtain bacterial colonies; b) detecting the colonies expressing enzyme A activity and identifying them as being E. coli ; and c) detecting colonies that do not express enzyme A activity, nor deaminase activity, nor enzyme B activity, carrying out an indole test only on the colonies that do not express enzyme A activity, nor deaminase activity, nor enzyme B activity, and identifying the colonies having a positive indole test as being E. coli.