Columbia CAP Selective Agar with Sheep Blood

Effectively isolate Gram-positive organisms such as staphylococci and streptococci from clinical samples using Thermo Scientific™ Columbia CAP Selective Agar with Sheep Blood, a selective microbiological medium that includes Aztreonam to inhibit Proteus spp.

Traditionally, nalidixic acid was used in Columbia CNA agars to suppress these species, but with increasing resistance rates, it is losing its effectiveness. In addition, nalidixic acid can influence colony morphology and the color of Staphylococcus aureus, making it more difficult to read. Columbia CAP agar includes the addition of colistin to inhibit the growth of a large portion of the Gram-negative accompanying flora and represents a good alternative to Columbia CNA agars.

Staphylococcus aureus is a coagulase-positive, catalasepositive, gram-positive cocci that occurs singly or in pairs, tetrads, short chains, and grape-like clusters. It is commonly carried on the skin and in the nose of healthy individuals, but is also a major cause of infection in both healthcare and community settings worldwide. S. aureus can produce a variety of syndromes with clinical manifestations, including skin and soft tissue infections, empyema, bloodstream infections, pneumonia, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, endocarditis, sepsis, and meningitis.

Streptococci are facultatively anaerobic, catalase-negative, gram-positive cocci that occur as pairs or chains. They cause a wide variety of clinical diseases including pharyngitis, scarlet fever, otitis media, impetigo, meningitis, neonatal sepis, pneumonia, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, and necrotizing fascitis. One of the most useful phenotypic characteristics of streptococci is the hemolytic reaction, generally classified as alpha, beta, or gamma according to the appearance of zones around colonies growing on Blood Agar. Beta-hemolytic streptococci are further characterized by Lancefield groups based on the antigenic differences in group-specific polysaccharides located in the bacterial cell wall.

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