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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2006, p. 3346-3351, Vol. 44, No. 9
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02631-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

As a Bacterial Culture Medium, Citrated Sheep Blood Agar Is a Practical Alternative to Citrated Human Blood Agar in Laboratories of Developing Countries

F. M. Russell,*1 S. S. N. Biribo,2 G. Selvaraj,3 F. Oppedisano,3 S. Warren,4 A. Seduadua,5 E. K. Mulholland,1,6 and J. R. Carapetis1,7

Centre for International Child Health, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia,1 Fiji School of Medicine, Suva, Fiji,2 Microbiological Research Unit, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia,3 Microbiology, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia,4 Fiji Pneumococcal Project, Ministry of Health, Suva, Fiji,5 Child Health and Vaccinology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London,United Kingdom,6 Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, and Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia7

Received 19 December 2005/ Returned for modification 22 February 2006/ Accepted 3 May 2006

Human blood agar (HuBA) is widely used in developing countries for the isolation of bacteria from clinical specimens. This study compared citrated sheep blood agar (CSBA) and HuBA with defibrinated horse blood agar and defibrinated sheep blood agar (DSBA) for the isolation and antibiotic susceptibility testing of reference and clinical strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus. Reference and clinical strains of all organisms were diluted in brain heart infusion and a clinical specimen of cerebrospinal fluid and cultured on all agars. Viable counts, colony morphology, and colony size were recorded. Susceptibility testing for S. pneumoniae and S. pyogenes was performed on defibrinated sheep blood Mueller-Hinton agar, citrated sheep blood Mueller-Hinton agar (CSB MHA), and human blood Mueller-Hinton agar plates. For all organisms, the colony numbers were similar on all agars. Substantially smaller colony sizes and absent or minimal hemolysis were noted on HuBA for all organisms. Antibiotic susceptibility results for S. pneumoniae were similar for the two sheep blood agars; however, larger zone sizes were displayed on HuBA, and quality control for the reference strain failed on HuBA. For S. pyogenes, larger zone sizes were demonstrated on HuBA and CSBA than on DSBA. Poor hemolysis made interpretation of the zone sizes difficult on HuBA. CSBA is an acceptable alternative for the isolation of these organisms. The characteristic morphology is not evident, and hemolysis is poor on HuBA; and so HuBA is not recommended for use for the isolation or the susceptibility testing of any of these organisms. CSB MHA may be suitable for use for the susceptibility testing of S. pneumoniae.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: P.O. Box 17633, Suva, Fiji. Phone: 679 3317670. Fax: 679 3317673. E-mail: fionarussell{at}connect.com.fj.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2006, p. 3346-3351, Vol. 44, No. 9
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02631-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

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