National referrence centre for Vibrionaceae

Our laboratory is responsible for isolation, identification and/or confirmation of vibrios from clinical materials and environmental samples in Slovakia and is also responsible for O1, O139 serogroups typing and toxinogenicity testing in case of need in the territory of Slovak Republic.

Our routine and also research activities are also focused on monitoring of occurrence (ecology) of water vibrios in natural fresh surface waters and pools with mineralized waters in Slovakia. Our long-term aim is to map the occurrence of vibrios in different waters in Slovakia, assess the risk of infection with these bacteria during recreational activities and suggest the measurements for possible risk elimination or lowering.

We use classical isolation methods with serial alkaline peptone broth enrichment followed with selective cultures for vibrios isolation and biochemical identification of isolates.

For identification and confirmation of vibrios we use classical morphological, physiological and biochemical methods in test-tube macro-version combining 35 different properties.

We also focus on the virulence potential of vibrios isolated from clinical materials and also from environment – virulence factors production (haemolysins, toxinogenicity, collagenase and hyaluronidase activity). Our research in vibrio biofilms is focused on study of ability of particular strains to form the biofilm structures in different conditions (salinity) which could help to survive in chlorinated pools with mineralized waters.

Our laboratory is accredited as testing laboratory according to ISO 17025:2017.