COMPARATIVE-EVALUATION OF SELECTIVE AND NONSELECTIVE MEDIA FOR PRIMARY ISOLATION OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI FROM GASTRIC BIOPSIES

Background. In this study, we compared and evaluated the efficacy of f ive culture media for the primary isolation of Helicobacter pylori fro m gastric biopsies. Materials and Methods. A total of 1,174 biopsies ( antrum and corpus) taken from 587 patients were plated in parallel on two selective media-Skirrow's medium and brain-heart infusion (BHI) ag ar supplemented with 10% sheep blood, polymyxin B, vancomycin, trimeth oprim, and amphotericin B (HPA medium), and on three nonselective medi a-chocolate agar with Isovitalex, Columbia blood agar, and BHI-10% she ep blood agar. Results. An isolation rate of 57.9% (680 of 1,174) was obtained with a combination of all media. HPA medium gave the highest isolation rate, 99.4% (676 of 680). Chocolate agar, Columbia blood aga r, brain-heart blood agar, and Skirrow's medium showed very poor perfo rmance (23.5%, 28.5%, 65.9%, and 71% of all isolates, respectively). T he number of cultures in HPA medium discarded due to contamination was only 2 (0.32%). There was no difference in the positive rate of cultu re in HPA medium between the antrum and the corpus of the stomach. Con clusions. The HPA medium is superior to Skirrow's medium and nonselect ive media in promoting growth of H. pylori and, on the basis of these results, we recommended the use of HPA medium for primary isolation of H. pylori from gastric biopsies.