Isolation of Plesiomonas shigelloides from nutrient broth with brilliant green: its use in screening stool samples from an African population.

The suitability and selectivity of nutrient broth with bile salts and varying concentrations of brilliant green as an enrichment medium was tested for the isolation of Plesiomonas shigelloides from faeces. The broth was most effective at a concentration of 0.001 g/l brilliant green, using faeces deliberately contaminated with Plesiomonas. Two hundred and nineteen faecal samples from Nigeria were then examined for the presence of Plesiomonas and other bacterial pathogens. One yielded Plesiomonas following enrichment in bile salts brilliant green broth (BBG broth) whereas no samples were positive on direct plating.