A comparison of three media for isolation of Nocardia species from clinical specimens

The study was carried out to compare the efficacy of three media namely Modified Thayer Martin medium, McClung's carbon free broth with paraffin bait and paraffin agar in isolating Nocardia species from clinical specimens. Two hundred and seventy six clinical specimens from 245 cases were studied which included cases of bronchopulmonary and systemic infections and cases of mycetoma. Paraffin agar was found to be an inexpensive and selective medium for isolation of Nocardia species when compared with Modified Thayer Martin medium and paraffin bait techniques.