A new agar medium suitable for screening of anti-clostridium agents.

Pseudomembranouscolitis is one of the serious infectious diseases with a high mortality. It tends to occur in association with antibiotic therapy, especially with broad spectrum antibacterial agents. The major causative pathogen is the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium difficileP This bacterium is extremely sensitive to oxygen, and requires strict anaerobic conditions for growth. Once exposed to air, it cannot grow any further. Therefore, all processes for the isolation, incubation for growth, and preservation of the bacterium have to be carried out in anaerobic boxes or anaerobic chambers. This requirement offers considerable inconvenience in the development and running of screening systems for agents effective to control pseudomembranous colitis. Wedescribe here a simple and convenient agar medium for growth of C. difficile, which can be handled under air for several hours, followed