Abstract
Culturing techniques for identifying specific microbes have improved immensely with the development of clinical science. However, isolation of the specific organisms responsible for the infection cannot always be accomplished because specimens sent for laboratory analysis are sometimes contaminated or extinct. Great care must be taken especially in the sampling of the pus. The most commonly used methods are needle aspiration and swab methods. In the oral cavity, where the microbial flora is so varied, access can be difficult in taking a sample.
We have devised a new method using the capillary tube commonly used in hematocrit counts. The capillary tube method has the following advantages : it is easy to handle, is adequate to examine even a small quantity of specimen, the specimen can be stored for a long time without alteration of its properties, and it's less expensive than other methods.
We have done some experiments with the capillary tube method investigating its ability to preserve various types of microbial strains including S. aureus, S. epidermidis, Str. milleri, Str. sanguis, Peptostreptococcus sp., B. fragilis, C. welchii, Propionibacterium sp., and Capnocytofaga. The results were shown to be excellent.
