MEDIA USED IN SHIPPING SPECIMENS FOR ISOLATION OF TYPHOID BACILLI

Abstract

SATISFACTORY methods for the isolation of typhoid bacilli from bowel and bladder discharges have for a long time been sought by many public health laboratory workers. Success in isolating typhoid bacilli from untreated bowel discharges depends to a very large extent upon the promptness with which the plating of the specimen is done. In Minnesota, the time consumed in transit of specimens by parcel post from different parts of the state to the laboratory often amounts to 2 days. Our routine work in the isolation of typhoid bacilli from stools and urine, for the most part, relates to the detection of typhoid carriers in the investigation of typhoid outbreaks of one or more clinical cases. To date, 137 carriers of typhoid or paratyphoid bacilli have been identified. Believing that the chances of success in isolation of typhoid bacilli are greatest from a specimen that has descended from the upper duodenum in the shortest possible period, we have always directed that specimens from suspected carriers be collected after the use of a mild cathartic or laxative and that the last portion of the stool be collected. Up to January 1, 1925, when a change in the manner of the collection and shipment of specimens was made, outfits, elsewhere described,' which were inadmissible to the mails, were used and specimens were collected without the addition of any enrichment or preservative medium. The specimens were shipped by