IMPROVED ENRICHMENT BROTH FOR CULTIVATION OF FASTIDIOUS ORGANISMS

An enrichment broth developed in our laboratory, fastidious broth (FB) , was compared with two commercially available broth media, supplement ed thioglycolate broth and enriched eugenic broth. FB supported the gr owth of a number of organisms that were not cultivatable in either of the other two media, including Corynebacterium jeikeium, Haemophilus i nfluenzae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. In add ition, for several organisms that were able to grow in all three broth s, including Neisseria meningitidis, Nocardia asteroides, and Actinomy ces spp., both the time of incubation and the starting inoculum necess ary to enable detection of growth were decreased significantly by usin g FB.