Members of the genus Listeria are fastidious bacteria with respect to their nutritional requirements, and several minimal media described in the literature fail to support growth of all Listeria spp. Furthermore, strict limitation by a single nutrient, e.g., the carbon source, has not been demonstrated for any of the published minimal media. This is an important prerequisite for defined studies...

A cabinet for detecting the fluorescence of cultures on agar media is described. The use of fluorescence as a criterion for detection of Ps. pyocyanea is compared with that of the oxidase reaction. From a series of patients with burns, all colonies of Gram-negative bacilli which gave a positive oxidase reaction yielded fluorescent subcultures on 0.03% cetrimide agar; all fluorescent cultures on...

they were washed with wet swabs and suspended in 1 ml. of nutrient broth and inoculated on blood agar media and into mice. All tested slides failed to produce either culture or infection. A similar experiment was performed with the same type of slides from which mercuric chloride was removed. Both the medium and mice failed to show the presence of B. anthracis. Because unstained areas round the...

Lescuraea morrisonensis (Takaki) Nog. fo. sichuanensis Wang, Hu & Redfearn reported from mainland China is synonymized to Actinothuidium hookeri (Mitt.) Broth. Filiform branched paraphyllia and triangular stemleaves which characterize A. hookeri are distinguishable from unbranched foliose paraphyllia and ovate-lanceolate stem-leaves of Lescuraea morrisonensis.

Piscirickettsia salmonis is the etiologic agent of piscirickettsiosis, an economically significant disease of fish. Isolation of P. salmonis by culturing on fish cell lines has been the standard technique since the initial isolation of the organism. The ability to grow P. salmonis on artificial media would relieve facilities of the cost of maintaining cell lines, permit isolation at fish cultur...

Presumptive identification of Gardnerella vaginalis from 48-h human blood agar cultures by using a Gram stain, hemolysis, and colonial morphology was highly accurate.

A new test for the presumptive identification of Clostridium perfringens, C. bifermentans, C. sordellii, and C. paraperfringens is described. The test is based on the synergistic haemolysis shown by the clostridia and group B streptococci on sheep and human and CaCl2-supplemented human blood agar. C. perfringens gave crescent-shaped synergistic lytic zones (7 to over 20 mm in length), and C. pa...

A total of 200 subjects were screened for carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at different sites using oxacillin blood agar and mannitol salt agar with oxacillin. Overall carriage rate was 8.5%, with the highest rate in inpatients (15.6%) while the lowest was seen in health care workers (1.8%). The commonest site of colonization was the anterior nares. Oxacillin blood...

Cultures of Helicobacter pylori obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (strain 43504) were grown as isolated colonies or lawns on blood agar plates and in broth culture with constant shaking. Examination of bacterial growth with Gram-stained fixed preparation and differential interference contrast microscopy on wet preparations revealed that bacteria grown on blood agar plates had a...

1. 5 per cent sheep blood agar is a selective medium for beta hemolytic streptococci in throat cultures since sheep blood inhibits the growth of bacillus X (H. hemolyticus) and B. parainfluenzae hemolyticus. The growth of H. influenzae is also inhibited by sheep blood. 2. The inhibitory action of sheep blood resides in the erythrocytes and is thermolabile. Disruption of the cell by laking has n...