[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fxLN3MUwXCdr5RPjwZYIDpOj8CHyjOmngWTgoKXPtZbg":3,"$fLvu5MvSvD7hoqBHXkhu49bPeJCGUDmYQhoTvdKnhdsc":32,"$f3Ft0rKFJHppdzE-vuveecxx1BUcg9iOlMLtyzf_MJDg":153},[4,8,12,16,20,24,28],{"title":5,"slug":6,"path":7},"About Microbeonline.com","about-microbeonline-com","\u002Fabout-microbeonline-com\u002F",{"title":9,"slug":10,"path":11},"About Me","about-me","\u002Fabout-microbeonline-com\u002Fabout-me\u002F",{"title":13,"slug":14,"path":15},"Advertise with Us","advertise-us","\u002Fadvertise-us\u002F",{"title":17,"slug":18,"path":19},"Privacy Policy","privacy-policy","\u002Fprivacy-policy\u002F",{"title":21,"slug":22,"path":23},"Abbreviations","abbreviations","\u002Fabbreviations\u002F",{"title":25,"slug":26,"path":27},"Microbes","microbes","\u002Fmicrobes\u002F",{"title":29,"slug":30,"path":31},"Books","recommended-books","\u002Frecommended-books\u002F",{"type":33,"data":34},"blog",{"slug":35,"title":36,"description":37,"seoTitle":38,"seoDescription":39,"author":40,"createdDate":41,"lastUpdatedDate":42,"draft":43,"category":44,"image":45,"body":46,"faq":47,"tags":69,"related":71},"api-20e-test-system-introduction-procedure-results-interpretations","API 20E Test: Procedure, Reading the 21 Reactions, and the 7-Digit Profile Code","How to set up, incubate, and read the API 20E strip: which wells need oil, which need reagents, how to run the 21st test (oxidase), and how to build the 7-digit profile number for identification.","API 20E: Inoculation, Reading, Profile Number, and Identification","Prepare and inoculate an API 20E strip, add reagents, read biochemical reactions, calculate the profile number, and interpret organism identification.","Acharya Tankeshwar","2015-05-06","2026-07-18",false,"biochemical-tests",null,"A stool-culture isolate grows as a lactose-fermenting, oxidase-negative Gram-negative rod. The colony morphology and a couple of tube tests point somewhere between *Escherichia coli* and *Enterobacter*, but the single tubes disagree: citrate is weakly positive, and the indole read is ambiguous. In a lab without MALDI-TOF, this is exactly where the API 20E strip earns its place.\n\nTwenty-one standardized biochemical reactions, read together and converted to a single profile number, resolve in one strip what a handful of individual tubes left unsettled. This is still routine practice across many clinical laboratories in resource-limited settings, where the strip remains the workhorse for identifying *Enterobacterales* to species level.\n\nAPI 20E (Analytical Profile Index) is a biochemical panel from bioMérieux for identifying and differentiating members of the [family *Enterobacteriaceae*](https:\u002F\u002Fmicrobeonline.com\u002Fenterobacteriaceae\u002F). and other non-fastidious, Gram-negative rods. The plastic strip holds 20 miniature test chambers of dehydrated, chemically defined media. Rehydrated with a bacterial suspension and incubated, the strip produces a pattern of reactions that is converted into a numerical profile and matched against a database to identify the isolate.\n\n![API 20E Biochemical Test Strip - API 20 E Biochemical Test Strip](https:\u002F\u002Fassets.microbeonline.com\u002Fblogs\u002FAPI-20-E.jpg)Figure: API 20 E Biochemical Test Strip\n\n**These include:**\n\n 1. ONPG: test for β-galactosidase enzyme by hydrolysis of the substrate o-nitrophenyl-b-D-galactopyranoside\n 2. ADH: hydrolysis of the amino acid arginine by arginine dihydrolase (a dihydrolase pathway, not a decarboxylation)\n 3. LDC: decarboxylation of the amino acid lysine by lysine decarboxylase\n 4. ODC: decarboxylation of the amino acid ornithine by ornithine decarboxylase\n 5. CIT: utilization of citrate as only carbon source\n 6. H₂S: production of hydrogen sulfide\n 7. URE: test for the enzyme urease\n 8. TDA (Tryptophan deaminase): detection of the enzyme tryptophan deaminase: Reagent to put- Ferric Chloride.\n 9. IND: Indole Test-production of indole from tryptophan by the enzyme tryptophanase. Reagent- Indole is detected by the *addition of Kovac’s reagent.*\n10. VP: the Voges-Proskauer test for the detection of acetoin (acetyl methylcarbinol) produced by fermentation of glucose by bacteria utilizing the butylene glycol pathway\n11. GEL: test for the production of the enzyme gelatinase which liquefies gelatin\n12. GLU: fermentation of glucose (hexose sugar)\n13. MAN: fermentation of mannitol (sugar alcohol)\n14. INO: fermentation of inositol (cyclic polyalcohol)\n15. SOR: fermentation of sorbitol (alcohol sugar)\n16. RHA: fermentation of rhamnose (methyl pentose sugar)\n17. SAC: fermentation of sucrose (disaccharide)\n18. MEL: fermentation of melibiose (disaccharide)\n19. AMY: fermentation of amygdalin (glycoside)\n20. ARA: fermentation of arabinose (pentose sugar)\n\n### The 21st reaction: oxidase\n\nThe strip has 20 wells, but a complete API 20E identification uses 21 reactions. The oxidase test is run separately, off the strip, because it must be read from fresh growth using oxidase reagent rather than from a dehydrated well. Its result occupies the final position when the profile is assembled, so a strip read without an oxidase result gives an incomplete code. Always run oxidase alongside the strip, not after you have already discarded the plate.\n\n**Setting up an API20E Biochemical Test Strip**\n\n1. Pick up a single isolated colony (from a pure culture) and make a suspension of it in sterile distilled water.\n2. Take the API20E biochemical test strip which contains dehydrated bacterial media\u002Fbiochemical reagents in 20 separate compartments. API20E biochemical test strip is commercially available. (Bacteria will react with them and will give different colors which will help to identify bacteria to the species level).\n3. Take a Pasteur pipette and fill up (up to the brim) these compartments with the bacterial suspension.\n4. Overlay the ADH, LDC, ODC, H₂S, and URE wells with sterile mineral oil to create the anaerobic conditions these reactions require. Skipping the overlay is the single most common setup error: without it, the decarboxylase and urease reactions read falsely, because the color chemistry depends on an anaerobic, alkaline environment.\n5. Put some drops of water in the tray and put the API Test strip and close the tray.\n6. Mark the tray with an identification number (patient ID or organism ID), date, and your initials.\n7. Incubate the tray at 35–37 °C for 18–24 hours. If the profile is non-discriminating at 24 hours, some reactions can be re-read after extended incubation per the manufacturer's instructions, but do not read reagent-dependent wells twice.\n\n## Results and Interpretation\n\n1. Read the strip in the correct order. First record every well that changes color on its own (the sugars, CIT, H₂S, GEL, and the oil-overlaid enzyme wells). Only then add reagents to the three wells that need them. This order matters: reagents added to a well change its chemistry permanently, so a reagent placed in the wrong well cannot be undone and invalidates that reaction.\n2. Add the following reagents to these specific compartments\n   1. **TDA:** add 1 drop of ferric chloride. A reddish-brown color is positive. Read immediately.\n   2. **IND:** add 1 drop of Kovács' reagent. A pink-red ring is positive. Read within a few minutes.\n   3. **VP:** add 1 drop of VP reagent 1 (40% KOH), then 1 drop of VP reagent 2 (α-naphthol). Wait a full 10 minutes before calling it negative; a pink-red color developing in that window is positive.\n3. Get the API reading scale (color chart)\n\nMark each test as positive or negative on the lid of the tray The wells are marked off into triplets by black triangles, for which scores are allocated as follows:\n\n![API 20 E 124](https:\u002F\u002Fassets.microbeonline.com\u002Fblogs\u002FAPI-20-E-124.jpg)Figure: API 20 E 124\n\n4. Add up the scores for the positive wells only in each triplet. Supplementary tests, e.g.: oxidase may also be included in the profile. The highest score possible for a triplet is 7 (the sum of 1, 2 and 4) and the lowest is 0.\n\n![Numbering in API 20E Test Strip - Numbering in API 20E Test Strip](https:\u002F\u002Fassets.microbeonline.com\u002Fblogs\u002FAPI-20-E-System-numbering.jpg)Figure: Numbering in API 20E Test Strip\n\n5. The profile for this combination of reactions is therefore 7031645 (7 digit code)\n6. Identify the organism by using **API catalog or apiweb** VIDEO: Reading an API20E using the online database\n7. Identify the organism using APIWEB: Start Google Chrome or Firefox web browser Go to: [https:\u002F\u002Fapiweb.biomerieux.com](https:\u002F\u002Fapiweb.biomerieux.com\u002F)\n\nLogin:  your login name Password: your password Select the correct test (e.g. API 20E). Enter the numerical profile to obtain the identity. Record the identity along with comments (% ID and T value) on the results sheet.\n\n## How to Remember\n\n**Which five wells get the oil?** The oil wells are the ones that need to breathe out, not in: the two decarboxylases (LDC, ODC), the dihydrolase (ADH), urease (URE), and H₂S. A quick handle is **\"A LOUH\"** — ADH, LDC, ODC, URE, H₂S — the five you cap with mineral oil. If a well is about an amino-acid enzyme or sulfide, it wants to be sealed.\n\n**Which three wells get reagents, and when?** **TIV** — TDA, IND, VP — are the only wells you touch after incubation. TDA and IND read on sight; VP makes you wait ten minutes. Everything else is read before you open a single reagent bottle.\n\n**The profile is built in triplets.** Each black-triangle group scores 1, 2, 4 from top to bottom, summed for positives only. Max per triplet is 7, minimum 0. Seven triplets (20 strip wells plus oxidase) give the 7-digit code.\n\n## Key exam facts in one table\n\n| Feature | Detail |\n| --- | --- |\n| Manufacturer | bioMérieux |\n| Primary use | Identification of Enterobacteriaceae and other non-fastidious Gram-negative rods |\n| Wells on strip | 20 dehydrated biochemical reactions |\n| Reactions in a full profile | 21 (the 20 strip wells plus oxidase, run separately) |\n| Oil-overlaid wells | ADH, LDC, ODC, URE, H₂S (anaerobic reactions) |\n| Reagent-added wells | TDA (ferric chloride), IND (Kovács'), VP (KOH + α-naphthol) |\n| VP read time | Wait 10 minutes before calling negative |\n| Incubation | 35–37 °C, 18–24 hours |\n| Scoring | Triplets scored 1-2-4; positives summed; max 7 per triplet |\n| Output | 7-digit numerical profile |\n| Identification database | apiweb ([apiweb.biomerieux.com](http:\u002F\u002Fapiweb.biomerieux.com)) or the printed API catalog |\n| ADH pathway note | Arginine dihydrolase, not a decarboxylase |\n| MAN well substrate | Mannitol, not mannose |\n\n## Where Students Get Confused\n\n- **\"There are only 20 wells, so why a 21-reaction profile?\"** Oxidase is run off-strip and fills the final code position. Run it at setup, not as an afterthought.\n- **Forgetting the oil overlay.** Without mineral oil on ADH, LDC, ODC, URE, and H₂S, these reactions read falsely. This is the most common cause of a mis-ID.\n- **Adding reagents in the wrong order or the wrong well.** Read all self-developing wells first. Reagents are permanent; a drop of Kovács' in the wrong well cannot be reversed.\n- **Calling VP negative too early.** The color can take the full 10 minutes to appear. TDA and IND, by contrast, read almost at once.\n- **Confusing MAN with mannose.** The well tests mannitol.\n- **Treating a doubtful profile as final.** A non-discriminating or low-%ID code needs supplementary tests (oxidase, nitrate, motility) or a repeat, not a guess. apiweb flags these with the %ID and T-value.\n\n**References**\n\n1. Winn, W. C., et al. (2017). *Koneman's Color Atlas and Textbook of Diagnostic Microbiology* (7th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.\n2. Tille, P. M. (2022). *Bailey & Scott's Diagnostic Microbiology* (15th ed.). Elsevier.\n3. bioMérieux. *API 20E Identification System — Package Insert \u002F Technical Sheet.* bioMérieux SA.\n4. O'Hara, C. M., Rhoden, D. L., & Miller, J. M. (1992). Reevaluation of the API 20E identification system versus conventional biochemicals for identification of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. *Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 30*(1), 123–125.",[48,51,54,57,60,63,66],{"question":49,"answer":50},"How many tests are in the API 20E, 20 or 21?","The strip has 20 wells, but a complete identification uses 21 reactions. The oxidase test is performed separately, off the strip, and fills the last position in the profile code.",{"question":52,"answer":53},"Which API 20E wells need a mineral oil overlay?","Five: ADH, LDC, ODC, URE, and H₂S. The oil creates the anaerobic conditions these reactions need. Without it, they read falsely.",{"question":55,"answer":56},"Which wells need reagents added after incubation?","Three: TDA (ferric chloride), IND (Kovács' reagent), and VP (KOH followed by α-naphthol). Add these only after reading every self-developing well.",{"question":58,"answer":59},"Why does the VP well take longer to read?","The pink-red color from acetoin detection can take up to 10 minutes to develop. Do not call VP negative before then. TDA and IND, by contrast, are read almost immediately.",{"question":61,"answer":62},"How is the 7-digit profile number generated?","The 21 reactions are grouped into seven triplets. Within each triplet the wells score 1, 2, and 4 from top to bottom; you add up only the positives, giving a digit from 0 to 7. The seven digits form the profile, which you look up in apiweb or the API catalog.",{"question":64,"answer":65},"What do I do if the profile gives a doubtful or low-confidence identification?","apiweb reports a %ID and a T-value; a low or non-discriminating result means you need supplementary tests (such as oxidase, nitrate reduction, or motility) or a repeat run, rather than accepting the closest match.",{"question":67,"answer":68},"Can API 20E identify organisms other than Enterobacteriaceae?","It is designed for Enterobacteriaceae and other non-fastidious Gram-negative rods. It is not suitable for fastidious organisms or non-fermenters outside its database scope, which need different panels.",[70],"enterobacteriaceae",[72,96,104,111,128,134,140,147],{"slug":73,"title":74,"description":75,"seoTitle":45,"seoDescription":45,"author":76,"createdDate":77,"lastUpdatedDate":78,"draft":43,"category":44,"image":45,"faq":79,"tags":95},"mixed-acid-fermentation","Mixed Acid Fermentation: The Pathway That Makes E. coli Methyl Red-Positive","Mixed acid fermentation splits glucose into a mixture of strong acids, lactate, acetate, formate, succinate, plus ethanol, in variable proportions. That flood of acid drops the pH below 4.4, which is exactly what the methyl red test detects. Here is the pathway, the enzymes, why \"mixed\" is the whole point, and how it differs from the 2,3-butanediol route that VP detects.","Ashma Shrestha","2023-08-21","2026-07-15",[80,83,86,89,92],{"question":81,"answer":82},"Why is E. coli methyl red-positive?","Because E. coli carries out mixed acid fermentation. When it ferments glucose anaerobically, it produces a mixture of strong acids, lactic, acetic, formic, and succinic, along with ethanol, all at once. These acids accumulate and drive the pH of the medium below 4.4. The methyl red test detects exactly this: methyl red turns red at pH 4.4 or below, so a mixed-acid fermenter like E. coli gives a positive (red) methyl red result. The test is essentially a readout of whether the organism ran mixed acid fermentation.",{"question":84,"answer":85},"What makes mixed acid fermentation different from other fermentations?","It produces several end products simultaneously in variable proportions, rather than one product in a fixed amount. Homolactic fermentation makes only lactate; alcoholic fermentation makes ethanol and CO2. Mixed acid fermentation makes a mixture, lactic, acetic, formic, and succinic acids plus ethanol and gas, and the exact proportions vary with the organism and conditions. This variable mixture is what the name refers to and is why it drives the pH low enough to be detected by the methyl red test.",{"question":87,"answer":88},"What is the difference between mixed acid fermentation and the 2,3-butanediol pathway?","They are the two roads enteric bacteria take from pyruvate. Mixed acid fermentation produces strong acids that lower the pH and is detected by the methyl red test; E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and Proteus take this road. The 2,3-butanediol pathway produces mostly neutral products (acetoin and 2,3-butanediol), spares the pH, and is detected by the Voges-Proskauer test; Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Serratia take this road. The two are largely mutually exclusive, which is why the methyl red and VP tests usually give opposite results.",{"question":90,"answer":91},"Why do some mixed acid fermenters produce gas and others do not?","Gas production depends on a specific enzyme, formate hydrogen-lyase, which splits the formic acid made during mixed acid fermentation into carbon dioxide and hydrogen. A mixed-acid fermenter that has this enzyme produces gas, seen as a bubble in a Durham tube. One that lacks or has limited formate hydrogen-lyase, such as Shigella or Salmonella Typhi, still ferments glucose to acid but produces no gas, making it anaerogenic. So acid production and gas production are separate features.",{"question":93,"answer":94},"Why is mixed acid fermentation important in biotechnology?","Because its end products, ethanol, succinate, lactate, and acetate, are commercially valuable, and the pathway's flexibility makes it tunable. Since E. coli can be directed toward one product or another, strains have been metabolically engineered to over-produce specific end products, for example ethanol as a biofuel or succinate as a chemical feedstock. The same feature that makes the pathway produce a variable mixture makes it a useful target for metabolic engineering, with redox balance being the main constraint.",[70],{"slug":97,"title":98,"description":98,"seoTitle":45,"seoDescription":45,"author":76,"createdDate":99,"lastUpdatedDate":100,"draft":43,"category":101,"image":45,"faq":102,"tags":103},"klebsiella-oxytoca-properties-and-pathogenesis","Klebsiella oxytoca: Properties and Pathogenesis","2022-07-12","2026-07-05","bacteriology",[],[70],{"slug":105,"title":106,"description":106,"seoTitle":45,"seoDescription":45,"author":40,"createdDate":107,"lastUpdatedDate":108,"draft":43,"category":101,"image":45,"faq":109,"tags":110},"yersinia-pestis-properties-disease-diagnosis","Yersinia pestis: Properties, Disease, Lab Diagnosis","2020-04-24","2026-07-19",[],[70],{"slug":112,"title":113,"description":114,"seoTitle":45,"seoDescription":45,"author":40,"createdDate":115,"lastUpdatedDate":116,"draft":43,"category":44,"image":45,"faq":117,"tags":127},"kliglers-iron-agar-kia-principle-procedure-and-results","Kligler’s Iron Agar (KIA): Principle, Procedure, Results","A faint black line at the slant-butt junction is easy to overlook, and it's exactly the reaction that can point toward Salmonella Typhi. Full KIA principle, tube-reading rules, and the KIA\u002FTSI distinction explained.","2019-04-30","2026-07-12",[118,121,124],{"question":119,"answer":120},"Why does KIA give an alkaline slant\u002Facid butt (K\u002FA) result for glucose-only fermenters?","KIA contains glucose (0.1%) and lactose (1.0%) at a 10:1 concentration ratio. A glucose-only fermenter initially produces acid throughout the tube, turning both slant and butt yellow. However, glucose is quickly exhausted. The organism then shifts to aerobic oxidative metabolism on the slant surface, oxidatively deaminating peptone to produce alkaline amine compounds — the slant reverts to red\u002Falkaline. The anaerobic butt retains the acid from initial glucose fermentation. Result: K\u002FA. Organisms that ferment lactose (10x more concentrated) maintain sustained acid production throughout the tube, giving A\u002FA.",{"question":122,"answer":123},"What is the critical difference between Vibrio cholerae results on KIA vs TSI?","Vibrio cholerae ferments glucose and sucrose but NOT lactose. On KIA (which contains only glucose and lactose): the organism ferments glucose only, giving a K\u002FA result — identical to Salmonella or Shigella. On TSI (which contains glucose, lactose, AND sucrose): V. cholerae also ferments sucrose, giving an A\u002FA result. This distinction is diagnostically critical — in a cholera outbreak setting, a K\u002FA result on KIA alone could lead to V. cholerae being worked up as Salmonella. Always use TSI rather than KIA alone when V. cholerae is clinically suspected, and confirm with oxidase test, string test, and serology.",{"question":125,"answer":126},"If a KIA tube shows heavy black precipitate throughout, how should the butt colour be interpreted?","A heavily H₂S-positive KIA tube where black iron sulphide precipitate obscures the butt colour should always be interpreted as acid (A) in the butt — regardless of whether yellow colour is visible. H₂S is only produced in an acidic environment, so the presence of H₂S itself confirms the butt is acid. Never report an H₂S-positive tube as K\u002FK. The blackening in the butt indicates glucose fermentation (acid) plus H₂S production, making the full reading: K\u002FA + H₂S positive — consistent with Salmonella (non-Typhi) or Citrobacter.",[70],{"slug":129,"title":130,"description":130,"seoTitle":45,"seoDescription":45,"author":40,"createdDate":131,"lastUpdatedDate":42,"draft":43,"category":101,"image":45,"faq":132,"tags":133},"klebsiella-pneumoniae-properties-virulence-diseases-diagnosis","Klebsiella pneumoniae: Properties, Diseases, Lab Diagnosis","2019-03-26",[],[70],{"slug":135,"title":136,"description":136,"seoTitle":45,"seoDescription":45,"author":40,"createdDate":137,"lastUpdatedDate":42,"draft":43,"category":101,"image":45,"faq":138,"tags":139},"shigella-disease-properties-pathogenesis-and-laboratory-diagnosis","Shigella: Disease, Properties, Pathogenesis, Lab Diagnosis","2013-05-18",[],[70],{"slug":141,"title":142,"description":142,"seoTitle":45,"seoDescription":45,"author":40,"createdDate":143,"lastUpdatedDate":100,"draft":43,"category":144,"image":45,"faq":145,"tags":146},"e-coli-only-bacteria-that-wins-record-number-of-nobel-prizes","E. coli: Only bacterium that wins records number of Nobel Prizes","2013-05-04","general-microbiology",[],[70],{"slug":148,"title":149,"description":149,"seoTitle":45,"seoDescription":45,"author":40,"createdDate":150,"lastUpdatedDate":42,"draft":43,"category":101,"image":45,"faq":151,"tags":152},"e-coli-disease-properties-pathogenesis-and-laboratory-diagnosis","Escherichia coli: Properties and Identification","2013-04-27",[],[70],[154,160,166,171,175,179,184,189,193,197],{"slug":155,"name":40,"description":156,"image":157,"body":158,"postCount":159},"acharya-tankeshwar","Editor-in-chief","https:\u002F\u002Fassets.microbeonline.com\u002Fauthors\u002Ftankeshwar-acharya-author-microbeonline.jpg","***Tankeshwar Acharya, MSc (Medical Microbiology)***\n\n*Tankeshwar Acharya is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS), Nepal, where he has been teaching and practicing clinical microbiology for over 14 years. He is the founder of Microbe Online, one of the leading free microbiology education resources on the web, covering bacteriology, mycology, parasitology, immunology, and clinical laboratory diagnostics written from direct experience in both the classroom and the diagnostic laboratory.*",433,{"slug":161,"name":76,"description":162,"image":163,"body":164,"postCount":165},"ashma-shrestha","SEO Copywriter and Science Communicator\nKathmandu, Nepal","https:\u002F\u002Fassets.microbeonline.com\u002Fauthors\u002Fashma-shrestha.png","Ashma Shrestha holds a Master of Science in Medical Microbiology from the Institute of Science and Technology (IOST), Tribhuvan University, Nepal, where she developed a strong foundation in virology, molecular biology, and diagnostic microbiology.\n\nShe now works as an SEO Copywriter at Resolution Digital, where she combines her scientific training with research-driven content strategy. She is certified in Google Analytics and Google Business Profile (GBP), and brings a data-informed approach to science communication writing content that is not only accurate but structured to reach and serve the students who need it most.\n\nAt microbeonline, Ashma contributes articles primarily in virology and molecular biology, areas she finds most compelling for their mechanistic depth and their growing clinical relevance. Her writing reflects the same standard the site is built on: factual rigor, clear explanation of the *why* behind microbiology concepts, and content that helps students move from memorization to genuine understanding.\n\nShe is passionate about making complex microbiological concepts accessible without sacrificing accuracy; a skill that sits at the intersection of her scientific training and her professional work in content and SEO.",81,{"slug":167,"name":168,"description":169,"image":45,"body":45,"postCount":170},"sushmita-baniya","Sushmita Baniya","Author \u002F Contributor",32,{"slug":172,"name":173,"description":169,"image":45,"body":45,"postCount":174},"samikshya-acharya","Samikshya Acharya",20,{"slug":176,"name":177,"description":169,"image":45,"body":45,"postCount":178},"alisha-tripathi","Alisha Tripathi",6,{"slug":180,"name":181,"description":182,"image":45,"body":45,"postCount":183},"aastha-shrestha","Aastha Shrestha"," Author \u002F Contributor",10,{"slug":185,"name":186,"description":187,"image":45,"body":45,"postCount":188},"guest-author","Guest Author","Guest Author \u002F Contributor",2,{"slug":190,"name":191,"description":169,"image":45,"body":45,"postCount":192},"srijana-khanal","Srijana Khanal",18,{"slug":194,"name":195,"description":187,"image":45,"body":45,"postCount":196},"dr-poonam-acharya","Dr. Poonam Acharya",1,{"slug":198,"name":199,"description":169,"image":45,"body":200,"postCount":201},"nisha-rijal","Nisha Rijal","**Nisha Rijal** is a microbiologist and quality assurance specialist. She served for nearly 12 years as a microbiologist at the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), Nepal's national reference laboratory, and continues to work as a consultant microbiologist in international public health organization. ",51]