Appraisal of Sabouraud's, cycloheximide, and oxgall agars.

Abstract

The need to improve the isolation technique for pathogenic fungi has prompted the use of nutrient media designed selectively to inhibit nonpathogenic micro-organisms without interfering with the growth of pathogenic fungi. While many of the selective media recommended hardly passed the stage of initial introduction, 2 received increasing attention and acclaim, namely, Littman's1oxgall medium and Georg's2cycloheximide agar. Their respective merits were appraised in a number of publications. A few are cited in the following: Littman, McQuown, and Schneidau,3in 1949, stated that in 222 cases of systemic and cutaneous mycoses 5 to 6 times as many isolates were discovered on oxgall medium as on Sabouraud's dextrose agar. Georg,2in 1953, reported that in cultures from 30 persons with suspected onychomycosis 3 times as many isolates were obtained on cycloheximide medium as on Sabouraud's agar. Shapiro, Mullins, and Pinkerton,4in 1956, performing duplicate cultures