agar and Abscess

Topics: Abscess; Agar; Aminoglycosides; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Anti-Infective Agents; Diffusion; Inflammation; Kidney; Kidney Diseases; Kidney Glomerulus; Kinetics; Leukocytes; Liver; Membranes; Polyenes; Polymyxins; Protein Binding; Solubility; Sulfonamides

Topics: Abscess; Agar; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Fluorouracil; Hydrogels; Hyperthermia, Induced; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Mice; Phototherapy

S. aureus ID (bioMérieux, La Balme Les Grottes, France) is a new chromogenic agar medium designed to enable the isolation of staphylococci and the specific identification of Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus produces green colonies on this medium due to production of alpha-glucosidase. To evaluate this medium, a total of 350 wound swabs were cultured onto S. aureus ID, CHROMagar Staph. aureus, and conventional media routinely used in our laboratory. After 18 to 20 h of incubation, 96.8% of strains formed green colonies on S. aureus ID compared with 91.1% of strains forming mauve colonies on CHROMagar Staph. aureus. A total of 94.3% of strains were recovered within 18 to 20 h with conventional media. The sensitivity was increased after 48 h of incubation to 98.7, 96.2, and 95.6% with S. aureus ID, CHROMagar Staph. aureus, and conventional media, respectively. A total of 97.4% of green colonies on S. aureus ID were confirmed as S. aureus compared with 94.4% of mauve colonies on CHROMagar Staph. aureus. We conclude that S. aureus ID is a highly sensitive and specific medium for the isolation and identification of S. aureus from wound swabs.

Topics: Abscess; Agar; Culture Media; False Positive Reactions; Humans; Staphylococcal Infections; Staphylococcus aureus

Clinical specimens submitted for anaerobic culture to a Melbourne teaching hospital microbiology laboratory were plated onto 3 types of selective media, to determine which would allow the optimal recovery of anaerobic organisms. The 3 media employed were kanamycin agar (KA), neomycin agar (NA) and nalidixic acid-Tween 80 agar (NAT). The highest isolation rate was achieved on NAT, 89% of the total of all anaerobes isolated being recovered on this medium. A recovery rate of 69% was achieved using NA, while use of KA allowed the isolation of only 56% of all strains. The major difference between 3 media was in the recovery of anaerobic Gram-positive cocci, which accounted for 40% of the total isolates on NAT, 25% on NA, and only 11% on KA. The NAT was also more successful in the isolation of Fusobacterium and Veillonella species. The NAT medium failed, however, to recover Clostridium spp. that were isolated on both NA and KA. There was no significant difference between the 3 media in regard to the recovery of Bacteroides spp.

Topics: Abscess; Adult; Agar; Bacteria, Anaerobic; Culture Media; Female; Humans; Kanamycin; Middle Aged; Nalidixic Acid; Neomycin

Topics: Abscess; Acid Phosphatase; Agar; Animals; Cell Division; Cell Membrane; Cell Nucleus; Cell Wall; Coagulase; Cytoplasm; Histocytochemistry; Kidney Diseases; Mice; Microscopy, Electron; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Oxidation-Reduction; Protoplasts; Rodent Diseases; Staphylococcus; Succinate Dehydrogenase; Tellurium

Some strains of Staphylococcus aureus grew as compact colonies in Brain Heart Infusion-serum-soft agar but as diffuse colonies in a modified Staphylococcus 110-serum-soft agar. These strains were designated "pseudocompact." Strains showing compact-type colonial morphology in both media were designated "compact," whereas strains showing diffuse-type growth in both media were designated "diffuse." It was observed that the most recently isolated strains of S. aureus were of the pseudocompact type, whereas most stock culture strains tested were of the compact type. Using cultures recently isolated from clinical material, it was shown that pseudocompact strains convert to compact-type growth after prolonged incubation. Interconversion of compact, diffuse, and pseudocompact growth forms could be induced in vitro by appropriate cultural conditions, and conversion of growth type was also observed in vivo. Femoral abscesses produced in mice by four different compact-type strains showed conversion to diffuse or pseudocompact-type growth during the course of the infection.

Topics: Abscess; Agar; Animals; Bacteriological Techniques; Blood; Brain; Culture Media; Culture Techniques; Mice; Staphylococcal Infections; Staphylococcus