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KM0038 Brilliant Green Agar is used for the selective isolation of Salmonella species from clinical specimens and food samples. Brilliant Green Agar was first cited by Kristensen et al. and later modified to improve selectivity. The medium is highly selective and may not be suitable for the isolation of Salmonella spp. from samples where numbers of salmonellae are low. If this is suspected to be the case, or if the sample is suspected to contain Salmonella typhi, other selective media such as Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate (XLD) Agar (E&O KM0013), Hektoen Enteric Agar (E&O KM0032) or Deoxycholate Citrate Agar (E&O KM0050) may be inoculated with the specimen in parallel. The United States Pharmacopeia indicates that the medium may be used to confirm the absence of salmonellae in nutritional and dietary supplements. The medium may also be used as a secondary plating medium for subculture from selective enrichment media during food and environmental testing, and as a primary isolation medium in the identification of Salmonella species from clinical specimens according to Public Health England’s UK Standards for Microbiology Investigations. -
Lactose broth is used for the performance and confirmation of the Presumptive Test for coliforms in water and dairy samples. This medium is also frequently used as a pre-enrichment medium when testing foods, water samples and dairy products for Salmonella spp. Beef extract and gelatin peptone provide the required carbon, nitrogen and vitamins in this medium. Lactose is a fermentable carbohydrate. Fermentation of lactose is detected by the production of gas
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KM0015 Legionella Agar Base is the base for media used in the isolation of Legionella species from clinical, water and environmental samples and is tested in accordance with ISO 11133:2014. Legionella Agar, initially known as F-G agar, was modified by Feely et al. by replacing starch with charcoal, and casein hydrolysate with yeast extract which resulted in better recovery of Legionella pneumophila. The medium requires supplementation with ferric pyrophosphate as a source of iron, L-cysteine, an essential amino acid for the growth of Legionella spp. and α-ketoglutaric acid, which acts as a growth stimulant. ACES buffer/potassium hydroxide is also added to maintain the optimal pH of 6.9 for growth of Legionella spp. Omission of the L-cysteine produces a confirmation medium that can be used to test presumptive Legionella spp. as isolates will not be able to grow. Many variants of Legionella Agar can be created from KM0015 Legionella Agar Base by the addition of various supplements (GVPC is the most popular for water testing and BMPA for clinical testing).
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Mycological agar is a selective medium for the isolation of pathogenic fungi, particularly dermatophytes, from clinical specimens. Enzymatic digest of soybean meal provides the required carbon, nitrogen and vitamins. Glucose is an energy source for the metabolism of fungi. The addition of chloramphenicol further reduces the risk of bacterial contamination when processing material that may be heavily contaminated with coliforms. Cycloheximide should also be added (0.4g/L) to suppress the growth of commensal yeasts and saprophytic fungi.
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This medium can be used as a screening method for the differentiation of enterobacteriaceae based on the ability of some species to utilise citrate as a sole source of carbon. It is often used as a screening test for Klebsiella pneumoniae (positive reaction) while Escherichia coli is negative. Species that metabolize citrate as their sole source of carbon and ammonium as the sole source of nitrogen cause an increase in alkalinity of the medium resulting in a colour change from green to blue due to the presence of the pH indicator bromthymole blue.
