title: Lyme disease: a selective medium for isolation of the suspected etiological agent, a spirochete.
abstract: A simple procedure with a new selective culture medium for the isolation of the suspected etiological agent of Lyme disease from ticks is described. Live ticks (Ixodes dammini) were ground with a mortar and pestle, and the suspensions were inoculated into a selective and nonselective medium. The selective medium, which contained kanamycin and 5-fluorouracil, yielded positive spirochete cultures from 100% of the pooled ticks and from 79% of the single tick specimens. The isolation rate for the nonselective medium was 0% from the tick pools and 58% from the single tick specimens.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000382:microbiology*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi; D003470:Culture Media; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000494:pharmacology; D007612:Kanamycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D013144:Spirochaetales / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D007612:Kanamycin; D005472:Fluorouracil