Gentamicin-blood agar for isolation of Streptococcus pneumoniae from respiratory secretions

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Abstract
Previous studies suggested that the yield of S. pneumoniae from respiratory secretions can be increased by using a 5% sheep blood agar plate supplemented with 5 .mu.g of gentamicin (GBA)/ml. Lower respiratory specimens (24) in which this method was compared with 5% sheep blood agar (SBA) alone were tested. Of 35 specimens with growth of S. pneumoniae on either plate, 21 were detected exclusively on SBA, whereas only 3 were detected on GBA alone (P < 0.01). By subculturing representative .alpha.-hemolytic colonies from the final 169 specimens, the yield of S. pneumoniae was increased by 27% compared with the number of identifications that could be made directly from the primary culture. Minimal inhibitory concentrations of gentamicin for the last 25 isolates were .gtoreq. 8 .mu.g/ml. The results do not substantiate the previous observations that S. pneumoniae from respiratory secretions gives an increased yield in cultures on GBA.

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