Fishmeal extract bile salt lactose agar--a differential medium for enteric bacteria.

Fishmeal extract bile salt lactose agar (FEBLA), a new differential medium for enteric bacteria was developed and evaluated for its ability to grow and differentiate lactose fermenters (LF) from non-lactose fermenters (NLF) in comparison with MacConkeys agar. Performance of FEBLA was at par with the latter. On FEBLA medium, the contrast between LF and NLF colonies was pronounced and Klebsiella pneumoniae produced more mucoid colonies than on MacConkeys agar (Hi Media). Unlike MacConkeys agar, a 24 h culture of K. pneumoniae cells on FEBLA were longer and thicker with abundant capsular material around the bacilli. Escherichia coli produced long and thick cells but only after 48h. No change in cell morphology was evident with regard to Salmonella typhi, S. paratyphi A, Shigella flexneri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Citrobacter koseri and Acinetobacter baumannii. Performance of the medium was controlled using E. coli and S. flexneri. FEBLA is simple, cost effective and may be a suitable alternative in the preliminary identification of enteric bacteria.

Fishmeal extract agar--a new antibiotic sensitivity test medium.

Fishmeal extract agar is a new antibiotic sensitivity test medium. It is simpler and cheaper than Mueller-Hinton agar and comparable in its efficacy to the latter. It can also be used for isolation of moderately fastidious and non-fastidious bacteria from clinical specimens. Fishmeal extract broth can be used as a base for biochemical tests used for the identification of bacterial isolates.

Antibacterial activity of tea (Camellia sinensis) and coffee (Coffee arabica) with special reference to Salmonella typhimurium.

Extracts of Black tea, Japanese green tea, China tea or Coffee inhibited the growth of various bacteria causing diarrhoeal diseases. Tea or coffee also showed bactericidal activity against Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella typhi.

Entamoeba histolytica and other parasitic infections in south Kanara district, Karnataka.

Single stool specimens collected from 1,020 apparently healthy people of the South Kanara District, were processed for intestinal parasites using three parasitological methods viz. (a) Direct smear in physiological saline and D'Antoni's iodine, (b) Zinc sulfate concentration method and (c) by culture in modified Boek and Drbolhav medium. Of these 781 (76.51 per cent) were found to be infected with parasites. The prevalence of various intestinal parasites was: Ascaris lumbricoides (48.33 per cent), Necator americanus (46.86 per cent), Trichuris trichiura (42.75 per cent), Entamoeba coli (23.24 per cent), Entamoeba histolytica (7.94 per cent), Enterobius vermicularis (2.84 per cent), Giardia intestinalis (2.45 per cent), Iodamoeba buitschlii (1.57 per cent), Entamoeba hartmanni (1.37 per cent), Trichomonas hominis (0.88 per cent), Strongyloides stercoralis (0.68 per cent), Hymenolepis nana (0.49 per cent), Chilomastis mesnili (0.10 per cent) and Endolimax nana (0.10 per cent). High incidence of parasitic infections was recorded in females and age group of 6-14 years.