A selective medium, Clostridium butyricum isolation medium (BIM), is described for the isolation of C. butyricum from human feces. The BIM is a synthetic minimal medium and contains trimethoprim (16 micrograms/ml), D-cycloserine (10 micrograms/ml), and polymyxin B sulfate (20 micrograms/ml) as selective inhibitory agents. Qualitative tests indicated that C. butyricum and other butyric acid-producing clostridia grew on BIM, Clostridium sphenoides and Bacillus cereus produced small colonies, and other clostridia and other obligate anaerobic or facultatively anerobic bacteria were inhibited. Quantitative recovery of C. butyricum from cultures or seeded fecal samples was comparable with BIM and with complex medium, but the quantitative recovery of the other butyric acid-producing clostridia tested (C. beijerinckii, C. acetobutylicum) was lower with BIM than with complex medium. The BIM should aid the rapid isolation of C. butyricum from fecal samples and should be useful for bacteriological investigation of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis.
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