Compositions for the detection of intracellular bacterial targets and other intracellular microorganism targets

A method for detecting the presence of a bacterial enzyme, the method comprising:

• (a) contacting a liquid sample with a solid support, wherein the solid support contains a dried composition, wherein the dried composition comprises a lysis reagent and an intracellular bacterial target detection reagent, wherein the intracellular bacterial target detection reagent is a substrate for an intracellular bacterial enzyme, and wherein the amount of lysis reagent and intracellular bacterial target detection reagent in the dried composition are such that after rehydration with a single volume of liquid containing bacterial cells, the concentration of the lysis reagent and the intracellular bacterial target detection reagent in the single volume of liquid can be used to lyse the bacterial cells and detect the intracellular bacterial enzyme in the single volume of liquid, wherein the intracellular bacterial enzyme is not a beta-lactamase;
• (b) rehydrating the dried composition with the liquid sample and incubating the sample in the presence of the lysis reagent and the substrate for an intracellular bacterial enzyme to permit lysis of bacterial cells and utilization of the substrate for an intracellular bacterial enzyme;
• and
• (c) detecting utilization of the substrate for an intracellular bacterial enzyme, wherein utilization of the substrate for an intracellular bacterial enzyme indicates the presence of the intracellular bacterial enzyme.