Transgrow, a Medium for Transport and Growth of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis

FAILURE to diagnose gonorrhea in women who harbor asymptomatic infection is a significant handicap in the control of gonorrhea.This handicap would be partially alleviated if a culture method could be made readily available to all physicians and clinics.Similar considerations apply to detection of nasopharyngeal carriers of meningococci in con- fined populations.A selective medium for the cultivation of gono- cocci and meningococci was reported by Thayer and Martin in 1964 (1).An improved medium was de- scribed by the same authors in 1966 (2).The Thayer-Martin selective medium is recommended for primary isolation of the gonococcus and menin- gococcus, especially from sites where these orga- nisms are outnumbered by the more rapid-growing natural bacterial flora.Overgrowth by gram-positive and other gram-negative bacteria and yeast is prevented in most cases because the medium con- tains 3 units of vancomycin, 7.5 micrograms of colistimethate sodium, and 12.5 units nystatin per milli- liter.Although this selective medium has been avail- able since 1964, its use, unfortunately, is limited to