A Practical Study of Lauryl Sulfate Tryptose Broth for Detection of the Presence of Coliform Organisms in Water

A Comparison of Standard Lactose Broth with Lauryl Sulphate Broth and with the Eijkman Method for Demonstrating Fecal Coliform Bacteria1

“…Further data would be needed to demonstrate it. Our data do not show it and we frankly doubt it, especially when we consider all the data which have been so carefully reviewed by McCrady (1943). We think that we have happened to get the data that one would expect to get about 12 times out of 100 if two media are equally productive.…”

“…There is good evidence that many persons are not entirely convinced that lauryl sulphate in lactose broth lives up to this ideal. Many comparative studies of this medium with lactose broth and other presumptive media have been published and these have been reviewed by McCrady (1943). However, the fundamental question as to the effectiveness in detecting all the fecal coliform bacteria has not been clearly answered.…”

Underestimation of total-coliform counts by the membrane filter verification procedure

“…Since the end products of lactose fermentation were different in the two media, it was apparent that the lactose was metabolized via different pathways. The metabolic pathway an organism chooses can be governed by the presence of fermentation end products or intermediates in the medium at the time of inoculation (8,11). A major cause of the differences in end products found in the LTB and BGB may be the peptone source (1).…”