NEW ENRICHED CULTURE MEDIA FOR CULTURING HAEMOPHILUS INFLEUNZAE

Abstract

Background and aim: Fastidious bacteria require special nutrients and growth factors to grow on enriched culture media. Many enriched culture media were developed for culturing and isolating fastidious bacteria in pure cultures. A number of defined media have been described, but their use often leads to frustration. The present study investigates the ability of spirulina powder to support the fastidious bacteria growth in pure culture compared to ordinary enriched media, e.g Blood agar and Chocolate agar. Methods: Spirulina powder was used as a nutrient source with some additives to prepare different types of Spirulina media. Reference strain of Haemophilus infleunzae (H.imfleunzae) ATCC (49347) and three clinical isolates were examined for their growth on the developed candidate medium. Three formulations of spirulina powder were used: Medium 1, Medium 2, and Medium 3. Results: spirulina media type 2 and 3 supported the growth of H infleunzae and there was no significant difference in the morphology and cultural characteristics on chocolate agar media. Colonies size of H infleunza were slightly smaller size and white in color on spirulina media. Conclusions: Spirulina media type 2 and 3 are a possible candidate that can be used as enriched culture media for culturing and isolating fastidious bacteria such as H.infleunzae.