Open AccessMethods for Enhanced Culture Recovery of Francisella tularensis
Author(s) -
Jeannine M. Petersen,
Martin E. Schriefer,
Kenneth L. Gage,
John A. Montenieri,
Leon G. Carter,
Miles Stanley,
May C. Chu
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
applied and environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552
H-Index - 324
eISSN - 1070-6291
pISSN - 0099-2240
DOI - 10.1128/aem.70.6.3733-3735.2004
Subject(s) - francisella tularensis , tularemia , microbiology and biotechnology , agar , biology , recovery rate , antibiotic sensitivity , bacteria , blood culture , tissue culture , antibiotics , chemistry , in vitro , virulence , chromatography , biochemistry , genetics , gene
Francisella tularensis is found in a wide variety of hosts and extrahost environments, making culture recovery a diagnostic challenge. Here we demonstrate improved recovery times and good sensitivity (90%) when cultures were inoculated on the site of an investigation using fresh tissues. For contaminated specimens, antibiotic supplementation of enriched cysteine heart agar blood culture medium improved recovery of F. tularensis by 81.1%. For transport of tissues, immediate freezing yielded culture recovery rates as high as 94%.