Experience with a new agar culture medium for demonstrating the presence of anaerobic bacteria.

In view of the fact that anaerobic diagnostics have become a matter of primary importance, the authors have developed the RCM medium with certain modifications. Owing to its good keeping quality, this medium can be used also on smaller laboratories for demonstrating the presence of anaerobic bacteria and for carrying out germ counts. It constitutes and adequate base for the anaerobic blood medium and for the Wilson-Blair medium, and also for the determination of the antibiotic resistance of the anaerobic bacteria. The sensitivity of this medium surpasses that of the thioglycollate medium, and is suitable in its carbohydrate-free form also for testing the strains for their sugar-fermentative capactiy. Our work was aimed at serving the anaerobic diagnostics of clinical laboratories, and at serving at the same time the method of demonstrating the presence of anaerobes becoming increasingle important in the food industry.