Description
Azide Blood Agar Base is a selective enriched medium for detecting and isolating streptococci and staphylococci from specimens and samples containing mixed flora.
Sodium azide inhibits Gram-negative bacteria and reduces Proteus swarming while sparing streptococci, enterococci and staphylococci. Added blood supplies growth factors and enables differentiation by haemolytic reaction.
The base is cooled, supplemented with approximately 5% horse or sheep blood and poured into plates. Inoculated plates are incubated and characteristic colonies and haemolysis patterns are selected for confirmation.
