The detection of streptococci in air

Abstract

To estimate the number of viable streptococci present in the air of occupied places, airborne bacteria were collected in a slit-sampler on a nutrient agar medium containing 5% sucrose, 5% horse serum, 0·25 mg./100 ml. crystal violet, and 1·0/100 ml. potassium tellurite. This medium inhibits the great majority of the staphylococci and micrococci found in the air. On it colonies ofStrep. salivariusare readily recognized by their mucoid form. The number of other streptococci was estimated by picking and examining a random sample of the colonies.Streptococci were recognized in the sample by three different methods: (1) by microscopic examination of a nigrosin film made from the original colony; (2) by examination of a nigrosin film and also subculturing the colony to a ditch plate having blood agar on one side and serum agar containing 40% or bile on the other; or (3) by subculture to bile-agar ditch plates alone, the bile agar in this case containing aesculin and ferric citrate. By method (1) streptococci could be distinguished from micrococci; by methods (2) and (3) this distinction could be made with more confidence, and in addition enterococci could be distinguished from other streptococci.A number of tests of the efficiency of the method were carried out, and it was concluded that some 20–40% of the viable streptococci in the air were missed.The standard errors of the mean of a number of streptococcal counts in schoolrooms were calculated and found to be of the order of 14% of the mean when our standard routine was followed; increasing the size of the sample of colonies picked for examination by 30% would probably have had only a trivial effect on the standard error of the mean, since the greater part of the variation was due to differences between the counts in different rooms.