Rapid growth of Helicobacter pylori.

The ability of six variants of a new charcoal medium and Skirrow's medium to grow Helicobacter pylori in 3 and 5 days was studied using 20 different strains of Helicobacter pylori. The main admixtures for the charcoal media were serum, whole blood, and egg yolk emulsion. For this purpose, serum was significantly better and egg yolk emulsion significantly worse than whole blood. The addition of Iso Vitalex resulted in significantly improved growth on the charcoal media. Skirrow's medium showed very poor performance after three days of incubation and needed a long incubation time.