Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1990 Mar;28(3):508–512. doi: 10.1128/jcm.28.3.508-512.1990

Cultivation of Nocardia spp. on chemically defined media for selective recovery of isolates from clinical specimens.

R M Shawar 1, D G Moore 1, M T LaRocco 1
PMCID: PMC269653  PMID: 2182669

Abstract

Isolation of Nocardia spp. from clinical specimens can be enhanced by the use of paraffin baiting, which relies on the selective ability of the organism to metabolize paraffin. We evaluated 44 Nocardia isolates, 18 group IV mycobacterial isolates, and 4 Streptomyces isolates for growth on blood agar (BA) and on carbon-free agar containing single or double substrates as follows: paraffin agar (PA), gelatin agar (GA), urea agar (UA), PA-gelatin (PG), and PA-urea (PU). The growth rates of Nocardia spp. on BA, PA, PU, and PG were similar; but 3-day-old colonies were larger on BA for 20 (45%) isolates. After longer incubations (7 to 14 days), some Nocardia colonies were larger on PA, PG and PU than they were on BA. Despite variable morphologies on BA, colonies on PA, PG, and PU were consistently smooth, creamy, and raised. Compared with growth on BA, the growth of mycobacteria was much slower on PA, PG, and PU, with poor growth on UA and GA. The growth of Streptomyces spp. was greatly enhanced on GA, PG, UA, and PU and was poorest on PA. Twelve sputum specimens seeded with Nocardia asteroides (10(4) CFU/ml) were inoculated onto BA and all chemically defined media. Nocardiae were recovered from 6 to 12 specimens grown on BA, GA, and UA; 11 of 12 specimens grown on PG; and 12 of 12 specimens grown on PA and PU. Only PA was able to suppress the growth of other microorganisms that were present in sputum specimens. These results suggest that chemically defined media containing PA may be useful for the selective isolation of Nocardia spp. from contaminated clinical specimens.

Full text

PDF
508

Images in this article

510Image
on p.510

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bach M. C., Sabath L. D., Finland M. Susceptibility of Nocardia asteroides to 45 antimicrobial agents in vitro. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1973 Jan;3(1):1–8. doi: 10.1128/aac.3.1.1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Beaman B. L., Burnside J., Edwards B., Causey W. Nocardial infections in the United States, 1972-1974. J Infect Dis. 1976 Sep;134(3):286–289. doi: 10.1093/infdis/134.3.286. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Berd D. Laboratory identification of clinically important aerobic actinomycetes. Appl Microbiol. 1973 Apr;25(4):665–681. doi: 10.1128/am.25.4.665-681.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Berkey P., Bodey G. P. Nocardial infection in patients with neoplastic disease. Rev Infect Dis. 1989 May-Jun;11(3):407–412. doi: 10.1093/clinids/11.3.407. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chakrabarty A. N., Dastidar S. G., Das S., Chaudhury S. K. Repeated isolation of nocardia like organisms from multibacillary cases of leprosy. Indian J Lepr. 1987 Jul-Sep;59(3):247–262. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Curry W. A. Human nocardiosis. A clinical review with selected case reports. Arch Intern Med. 1980 Jun;140(6):818–826. doi: 10.1001/archinte.140.6.818. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gutmann L., Goldstein F. W., Kitzis M. D., Hautefort B., Darmon C., Acar J. F. Susceptibility of Nocardia asteroides to 46 antibiotics, including 22 beta-lactams. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1983 Feb;23(2):248–251. doi: 10.1128/aac.23.2.248. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Holtz H. A., Lavery D. P., Kapila R. Actinomycetales infection in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 1985 Feb;102(2):203–205. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-102-2-203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kurup P. V., Randhawa H. S., Sandhu R. S. A survey of Nocardia asteroides, N. caviae and N. brasiliensis occuring in soil in India. Sabouraudia. 1968 Jun;6(3):260–266. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kurup P. V., Sandhu R. S. Isolation of Nocardia caviae from Soil and Its Pathogenicity for Laboratory Animals. J Bacteriol. 1965 Sep;90(3):822–823. doi: 10.1128/jb.90.3.822-823.1965. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Mishra S. K., Gordon R. E., Barnett D. A. Identification of nocardiae and streptomycetes of medical importance. J Clin Microbiol. 1980 Jun;11(6):728–736. doi: 10.1128/jcm.11.6.728-736.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Mishra S. K., Randhawa H. S. Application of paraffin bait technique to the isolation of Nocardia asteroides from clinical specimens. Appl Microbiol. 1969 Oct;18(4):686–687. doi: 10.1128/am.18.4.686-687.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mishra S. K., Randhawa H. S., Sandhu R. S. Observations on paraffin baiting as a laboratory diagnostic procedure in nocardiosis. Mycopathol Mycol Appl. 1973 Nov 15;51(2):147–157. doi: 10.1007/BF02141106. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Murray P. R., Heeren R. L., Niles A. C. Effect of decontamination procedures on recovery of Nocardia spp. J Clin Microbiol. 1987 Oct;25(10):2010–2011. doi: 10.1128/jcm.25.10.2010-2011.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Murray P. R., Niles A. C., Heeren R. L. Modified Thayer-Martin medium for recovery of Nocardia species from contaminated specimens. J Clin Microbiol. 1988 Jun;26(6):1219–1220. doi: 10.1128/jcm.26.6.1219-1220.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Orchard V. A., Goodfellow M. The selective isolation of nocardia from soil using antibiotics. J Gen Microbiol. 1974 Nov;85(1):160–162. doi: 10.1099/00221287-85-1-160. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Schaal K. P., Heimerzheim H. Mikrobiologische Diagnose und Therapie der Lungennocardiose. Mykosen. 1974 Nov;17(11):313–319. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Singh M., Sandhu R. S., Randhawa H. S. Comparison of paraffin baiting and conventional culture techniques for isolation of Nocardia asteroides from sputum. J Clin Microbiol. 1987 Jan;25(1):176–177. doi: 10.1128/jcm.25.1.176-177.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Staneck J. L., Frame P. T., Altemeier W. A., Miller E. H. Infection of bone by Mycobacterium fortuitum masquerading as Nocardia asteroides. Am J Clin Pathol. 1981 Aug;76(2):216–222. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/76.2.216. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Stevens D. A. Clinical and clinical laboratory aspects of nocardial infection. J Hyg (Lond) 1983 Dec;91(3):377–384. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400060423. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Stevens D. A., Pier A. C., Beaman B. L., Morozumi P. A., Lovett I. S., Houang E. T. Laboratory evaluation of an outbreak of nocardiosis in immunocompromised hosts. Am J Med. 1981 Dec;71(6):928–934. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(81)90302-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES