Objective:

Within the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc), the so called Taxon K, integrated by B. contaminans and B. lata, is frequently isolated from clinical and industrial samples. There is consensus in the use of culture media for the isolation of Bcc from clinical origin but not for industrial samples. By the other side there is no documented information about the performance of culture media recovering Taxon K species.

Regarding the importance of the proper use of selective media in the recovery of microorganisms from clinical and industrial samples, the objective of this work was to compare Trypan Blue-Tetracycline agar (TB-T), Burkholderia cepacia selective agar (BCSA) and commercial modified Burkholderia cepacia selective agar (BCSAm) in the isolation of Taxon K strains.

Methods:

we employed the ecometric method for culture media quality control. Productivity, selectivity and specificity criteria were analyzed by testing Bcc reference strains, clinical and industrial Taxon K isolates and non Bcc strains.

Results:

no differences in terms of productivity and selectivity were observed between BCSA and BCSAm. Both medium, displayed adequate productivity and partial selectivity since the growth of non Bcc isolates was observed. Productivity (especially with B. contaminans isolates) and selectivity in TB-T was lower than BCSA medium. No differences were observed related to the clinical or industrial origin of isolates.

Conclusion:

results allow us to suggest BCSA or BCSAm selective media for the isolation of Taxon K strains in clinical or industrial samples.

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