GROUND RED HOT PEPPER AGAR IN THE ISOLATION OF YEASTS OF CANDIDA SPP

The purpose of this study was to investigate and determine the value o f a novel, simple and inexpensive selective medium for isolation of ye asts of Candida spp, - ground red hot pepper agar (GRHP), The study co mpared GRHP and Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA), an insufficiently selec tive medium routinely used for primary isolation of yeasts. The compar ison was based on qualitative and quantitative characterisation of gro wth of 25 bacterial strains, measurement of growth of 22 yeast strains and testing on clinical specimens. Qualitative tests on bacteria show ed either significantly less growth on GRHP than on SDA, or no growth on GRHP, Quantitative tests confirmed these results; the number of col onies of all tested bacterial species and strains on GRHP was signific antly lower than on SDA, With regard to the isolation of Candida spp,, GRHP had the same properties as SDA, Statistical analysis showed no s ignificant differences in the growth of Candida spp, and strains on th e two media. All these results were confirmed by tests on clinical mat erial. The results clearly show that GRHP agar is an economical medium for the isolation of yeasts of Candida spp,, with excellent selectivi ty.