Acid and alkali as aids in differentiation of pathogenic Nocardia and for their isolation from clinical specimens.

The tolerance of Nocardia brasiliensis, Nocardia asteroides and Nocardia caviae to different concentrations of acids and alkalis was studied in this work. The purpose was to determine their use: (a) in the differentiation of species; (b) for decontamination of clinical materials during the isolation of pathogenic Nocardia. The results showed (1) that both 2 M NH3 and 0.05 M H2SO4 solutions are useful for differentiating species. They can also be used as a complementary method for identification. (2) That both 1 M NH3 and 0.05 M H2SO4 solutions were useful for decontamination of clinical materials during the isolation of pathogenic Nocardia.