ABSTRACT
The "ideal" tool for the physician, especially the one practicing in a rural area far removed from medical teaching centers, would be a learning instrument he or she could utilize anywhere, anytime. This paper traces the genesis and growth of a teaching tool that is now utilized worldwide because it comes close to that ideal of being useful in multitudinous locations where time is otherwise wasted, principally during automobile commuting.
Subject(s)
Audiovisual Aids , Education, Medical, Continuing , Tape Recording , United StatesABSTRACT
Clostridium difficile can be grown readily in Reinforced Clostridial Medium (RCM) containing 0-1-0-4% of o-, m- or p-cresol, or phenol. We recommend 0-2% of phenol or p-cresol in RCM for the isolation of this organism. The characteristic "cornfield" growth in RCM in 25-ml Universal containers is described. Glucose, fructose, galactose, mannose, raffinose, aesculin and mannitol are fermented with production of acid and gas; maltose, sucrose, glycogen, soluble starch and sorbitol are fermented with production of acid only. Lactose and rice starch are not fermented by any strain, and DL-methionine is not attacked. Nitrate is reduced to nitrite. Hydrogen sulphide and indole are not produced. Gelatin is attacked by all strains, but in some cases prolonged incubation is required. Hyaluronidase is produced, but not deoxyribonuclease. A lethal toxin appears to be produced. Strains possess shared and strain-specific antigens.
