Abstract
During the course of a comparative study of media for isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from sputum and other infectious material, it was decided to attempt culture of this organism in eggs. This was prompted by the observation that cultural methods now used for this purpose prescribe media containing whole eggs or egg yolk and because of the successful cultivation of viruses and bacteria on the chorioallantoic membrane of the developing egg. The developing egg has been used by Brandly and Graham 1 and Bradford and Tittsler 2 for the culture of bacteria. The former authors obtained growth of Brucella, Salmonella and Pasteurella species upon the chorioallantoic membrane of developing eggs and the latter cultured Neisseria gonorrhoea in the developing egg. Although these authors were studying the invasive powers or pathogenicity of the inoculated organisms their observations are of interest. Bradford and Tittsler suggest the method as a means of culturing Neisseria gonorrhoeα from sources such as joint fluid.
In the present study the primary object was cultivation of the organism from infected material in the simplest and quickest manner possible. The egg of the chicken was used with no attempt to obtain a developing embryo. As a preliminary experiment, a suspension of a pure culture of freshly isolated Mycobacterium tuberculosis was injected into the yolks of fresh eggs. The egg shell was sterilized with 5% phenol followed with 95% alcohol and then pierced with a sterile pin. The suspension of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was then inoculated (1/2 cc.) into the yolk of the egg and the pin hole covered with a drop of paraffin. The egg was then placed in the 37°C. incubator and incubated for 20 days. After incubation the egg was broken and the contents were placed in a sterile Petri dish.
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