Modification of kanamycin-esculin-azide agar to improve selectivity in the enumeration of fecal streptococci from water samples.

Kanamycin-esculin-azide agar was modified by increasing the concentration of sodium azide to 0.4 g liter-1 and replacing kanamycin sulfate with 5 mg of oxolinic acid liter-1. The modification, named oxolinic acid-esculin-azide (OAA) agar, was compared with Slanetz-Bartley and KF agars by using drinking water and seawater samples. The OAA agar showed higher specificity, selectivity, and recovery efficiencies than those obtained by using the other media. In addition, no confirmation of typical colonies was needed when OAA agar was used, which significantly shortens the time of sample processing and increases the accuracy of the method.