[Rapid cultivation of mycobacteria with a rotating incubator].

A method is described which allows a rapid primary culture of mycobacteria. The basic principle is a rotating incubator fitted with special cultures tubes and a synthetic liquid culture medium. So it is possible to accelerate the growth and multiplication and to get instance an average generation time of 10 hours in M. tuberculosis. After conventional decontamination of the sputa with Nekal-BX and an incubation time of 1, 2 and 4 weeks the grown mycobacteria are proved by microscopy with a special fixation technique. Acridin-orange is used for staining. The conditions for application of the rapid culture method are discussed.