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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1971 November; 22(5): 777-780
Copyright © 1971 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rifampin-Blood-Agar as a Selective Medium for the Isolation of Certain Anaerobic Bacteria

Anaerobic Bacteriology Laboratory and Department of Medicine, Wadsworth General Hospital, Veterans Administration, Los Angeles, California 90073
Department of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90024

ABSTRACT

A selective medium which allows detection of relatively small numbers of Fusobacterium varium in fecal specimens is described. Blood-agar containing 50 µg of rifampin per ml inhibits the growth of many species of Bacteriodes and of F. fusi-forme/nucleatum but allows good growth of F. varium and most strains of F. mortiferum. Quantitative cultures of 11 fecal specimens were done on rifampin and other selective and nonselective media. F. varium was recovered in counts of 10⁶ and 10⁷ per gram from two specimens on rifampin only. A third specimen yielded 10¹⁰F. varium on several media, including rifampin. Some Eubacterium and Clostridium species also grew on rifampin, and these ordinarily were distinguished from the Fusobacterium by colony morphology. This medium is of value in fecal flora studies and should be useful with other kinds of specimens where mixtures of organisms are common.