Tracheobronchial washings from seven vertebrate species as growth media for the four species ofBordetella

The four species of Bordetella differed in their ability to grow at 37 degrees C in membrane-filtered tracheobronchial washings (TBW) from seven vertebrate species, including their natural hosts. From washed inocula of approximately 2 x 10(3) colony-forming units per ml (cfu ml-1), Bordetella bronchiseptica and B. avium grew much better than the other two bordetellae and yielded stationary-phase cultures containing 10(8)-10(9) cfu ml-1 in most of the TBW samples. These counts were only moderately lower than those attained in CL medium which contains about a 450-times higher concentration of amino acids. B. bronchiseptica and B. avium also grew to a limited extent in phosphate-buffered saline without nutrient supplements. B. parapertussis grew in TBW from man, sheep, rabbit, mouse and chicken, but not in TBW from a dog and a horse or in PBS. B. pertussis grew well in CL medium, but not in PBS or in any of 13 samples of TBW from the seven vertebrate species, which included three samples of lung lavage fluid from human patients. Analysis of the TBW samples for known Bordetella nutrients revealed concentrations of amino acids and nicotinic acid averaging 0.35 mM and 0.56 microgram ml-1 respectively.