Fresenius J Anal Chem (1998) 360 : 470–472

© Springer-Verlag 1998

CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTION

R. S. Mahwar · S. Jain · S. P. Chakrabarti

Availability and need of microbiological Reference Materials in India

Received: 23 May 1997 / Revised: 7 August 1997 / Accepted: 12 August 1997

Abstract A survey was conducted to identify the sources of availability and make an assessment of the need of microbiological Reference Materials in India, as a part of the programme initiated by the Microbiological Reference Materials Committee of the AOAC International’s Technical Division on Reference Materials (TDRM) in 1996. The data collection process involved circulation of copies of the questionnaire received from TDRM (AOAC) to 120 institutions in India. The findings of the study indicated that, although India has made tremendous progress in the establishment of microbial culture collection centres, the use of Proficiency Test Samples (PTS) or Certified Reference Materials (CRM) in microbiological measurements is yet being introduced in a meaningful manner, and there is a strong need for introduction of national level quality assurance programmes for the microbiological laboratories in the country.

Introduction The Technical Division on Reference Materials (TDRM) of the AOAC international (USA) constituted a Microbiological Reference Materials Committee in January 1996 to include the area of microbiological assays in the activity concerning development and use of Reference Materials. A questionnaire concerning various aspects of the availability, need, and use of microbiological Reference Materials (RM) was circulated by TDRM [1] to the Committee members in April 1996. A survey of the activities involving microbiological measurements in India was, therefore, conducted to compile and forward to TDRM a representative picture of the whole country. This paper presents the status of the use of RM/PTS in microbial measurements, details of the microbial culture collection centres established, the priority needs, and the preferred cost and form of RM/PTS in the country.

R. S. Mahwar (Y) · Shriance Jain · S. P. Chakrabarti Central Pollution Control Board, Parivesh Bhawan, East Arjun Nagar, Delhi-110 032, India

Survey methodology The data collection was performed through circulation of copies of the questionnaire developed by TDRM (AOAC) to 120 organisations in India. It covered mainly ten questions concerning the availability, need, and type of the existing use of microbiological RM, especially those involving bacteria and combinations of bacteria, and the interest of the concerned organisations regarding the expected costs and preferred packaging for supply of such RM. The organisations approached included all the institutions under the council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Indian Councils of Medical Research (ICMR), Agricultural Research (ICAR), and Forests Research (ICFR), Government Laboratories, and University Departments expected to be involved in microbial measurements. The responses were screened to abstract meaningful information, which were collated and compiled to portray the overall picture.

Survey responses A total of sixty institutions gave their replies and out of these only 18 are involved in microbial measurements. The names of these 18 laboratories with their respective contact persons are given in Table 1.

Proficiency Testing Programmes of the 18 laboratories involved in microbiological measurements Nine of the 18 laboratories indicated a need for PTS, and, out of these nine, six laboratories claimed to be already using such samples in their microbial measurements. The type of use in one of the six is limited to qualitative tests, while the remaining five are involved in qualitative as well as quantitative measurements.

471 Table 1 Responding laboratories involved in microbiological measurements and their contact persons

S. No.

Name and address of the institution/laboratory

Contact person

01.

Central Pollution Control Board, Parivesh Bhawan, East Arjun Nagar, Delhi – 110 032, India National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur – 440 020, India Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39-A, Chandigarh – 160 036, India Indian Institute of Technology, Madras – 600 036, India Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, 19 University Road, Delhi – 110 007, India University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi – 110 095, India Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Lucknow – 226 001, India Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, (ICMR), Agamkuan, Patna – 800 007, India G. B. Pant University, Pantnagar – 263 145, India National AIDS Research Institute, G 73, M.I.D.C., Bhosari, Pune – 411 026, India National Insitute of Virology, 20-A, Dr. Ambedkar Road, Pune – 411 001, India National Intitute of Nutrition, Jamia-Osmania P.O., Hyderabad – 500 007, India Indian Institute of Spices Research, Markunnu P.O., Calicut – 673 012, India National Research Centre for Soyabean, Khandwa Road, Indore – 452 001, India National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal – 132 001, India Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad – 500 007, India Central Research Institute, Kasauli – 173 205, India Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar – 243 122, India

Dr. R. C. Trivedi, Senior Scientist and Incharge Bio-Monitoring Laboratory

02.

03.

04. 05.

06.

07.

08.

09. 10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15. 16.

17. 18.

Availability of microbiological RM/PTS Although six laboratories claimed to be using PTS in their measurements, the samples used are just reference strains of the relevant microorganisms obtained from either their own collection or the Microbial Culture Collection Cen-

Dr. N. Shivaraman, Scientist and Head, Environmental Biotech. Division Dr. T. Chakrabarti, Scientist

Dr. T. Swaminathan, Chemical Engineering Department Dr. D. A. Dabholkar, Director

Dr. Vibha Talwar, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology

Dr. Ram Chandra, Scientist, Environmental Microbiology Section Dr. S. K. Kar, Director

Prof. B. N. Johri, Head, Department of Microbiology Dr. R. S. Paranjape

Dr. B. Lalitha Rao, Deputy Director

Dr. P. Yasodhara, Research Officer Dr. Y. R. Sharma, Principal Scientist & Head, Division of Crop Protection Dr. G. K. Gupta, Sr. Scientist

Dr. D. K. Mathur, Head, Division of Dairy Microbiology Prof. D. Balasubramaniam, Director

Dr. (Mrs.) J. Sokhey, Director Dr. V. P. Singh, Professor and Head, Division of Bacteriology

tres existing in India. The largest among these centres is the “Microbial Type Culture Collection (MTCC) and Gene Bank” established by the Govt. of India at the Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh. MTCC is presently in a position to supply nearly 2600 strains of Actinomycetes, Bacteria, Fungi, Yeasts, and Plasmids. The other major centres include (i) The National Salmo-

472

nella and Escherichia Centre (NSEC) established at the Central Research Institute, Kasauli, and (ii) the National Salmonella Centre (NSC) at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar. While NSEC is presently in the position to supply 16 Salmonella diagnostic sera commonly needed for primary identification work in addition to maintaining a stock of a number of other important standard cultures of Salmonella and E. coli, NSC at IVRI is able to supply bacterial mycoplasma, mycotic agents, and reference strains of Salmonella relevant to veterinary studies. It may, therefore, be mentioned that the PTS claimed to be used in the country are not PTS in the technical sense as use of simple reference strains does not meet the concept of “Compositional Similarity” between PTS and the analysis of samples involved in routine meaTable 2 Requirement of microbiological Reference Materials Area/matrix Clinical/biomedical – Blood, urine etc.

Agriculture – Soyabean – Biofertilizers – Compost and manure

Priority needs of microbiological Reference Materials/PTS The areawise requirement of microbiological Reference Materials/Proficiency Test Samples is indicated by the various laboratories involved in microbial measurements as shown in Table 2.

Preferred frequency of use and form of the Reference Materials/PTS

Organisms – Leishmania donovani, Promastigotes (For measurements concerning Indian Kala-Azar) – Staph aureus, Ps. aeruginesa, E. Coli, Veillonella, Bacillus Sp. (For research on AIDS) – Antigenes for vital tests – E. Coli, Pseudomonas, Staph aureus for antibiotic sensitivity tests – N. gonorrhoeae, H. influenzae, N. meningitides, B. pertussis, Leptospira, Salmonella Sp., Shigella Sp., Vibrio comma, Staph aureus, Staph epidermidis, Protens Sp., PS aeruginosa, Alkaligenes faecalis, Anaerobic cocci etc.

Food and food products – Milk and milk products Salmonella enteritides, Shigella dysenteriae, E. Coli, Staphylococcus aureus (coagulase positive) – Spices such as black Coliforms, Salmonella pepper, cardamom etc. – Other products Bacillus Sp., E. Coli, Pseudomonas, Thiobacillus, Salmonella, Saccharomyces Sp. Environment – Ground water, and inland surface water (rivers, lakes etc.)

surements. It may also be mentioned that some of the laboratories, specially those involved in clinical diagnostic measurements, expressed a strong need for introduction of a national level programme for quality assurance in microbiological measurements.

Coliforms, Salmonella and members of Enterobacteriacae

The frequency of use indicated by the laboratories intending to use microbiological RMs or PTS varied from once a year up to ten times a year. However, the most predominant frequency indicated is twice a year. The laboratories are prepared to accept these materials in any convenient form which would be stable till its end use. The indicated cost varied from US $ 50 to 100 per sample. However, most of the laboratories indicated that the cost should be optimum and should be limited to the cost of man-days, materials and consultancy involved in their preparation.

Concluding remarks There is no known source of availability of microbiological Certified Reference Materials/PTS in India. The requirement of these materials is maximum in the area of clinical/medical measurements. This is followed by the areas of food and environment, and least in agricultural measurements. Acknowledgement The authors wish to thank Mr. Dilip Biswas, Chairman, for his encouragement and Mr. N. K. Verma and Mr. Subhash Chand of Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi, for their help in preparation of the paper. The authors are also grateful to the esteemed institutes in Table 1 for providing necessary details of their activities concerning Reference Materials which have been summarised in the paper.

Reference Pathogenic viruses and bacteria Pseudomonas, Rhizobia Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and Syctalidium

1. Microbiological Reference Materials Committee, AOAC, TDRM, United States Department of Agriculture, Building 322, BARC-EAST, 10300 Baltimore Ave, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA