Hip
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I've now managed to isolate and identify three different bacterial species in my urine, with the help of chromogenic agar (brand: Brilliance UTI Clarity), which turns a different color depending on the species of bacteria placed on it, which aids in identification of the bacterium.
Here are some pictures of the chromogenic agar plates on which I transferred the bacteria growing on the urine dipslides, and the colors which have appeared:
Interestingly, these different species of bacteria appeared on different days, captured on different dipslides.
Each day I would use a fresh new urine dipslide to expose to my morning urine, and then I would incubate the dipslide at 37°C for 24 hours. The next day, sometimes you would see growth on the dipslide, indicating that you'd caught some bacteria; but other times there would be no growth.
When there was growth, I would transfer the bacteria to the chromogenic agar with a sterile tool (I used a sterile hypodermic needle), and then incubate the chromogenic agar at 37°C.
For the first dipslide which showed growth, when I transferred some of that growth to the chromogenic agar, it turned out to be Enterococcus, as shown by the blue-green color on the first image above.
Then a few days later, I got some more growth on another dipslide. When I transferred this to the chromogenic agar, it turned out to be possibly Staphylococcus or Streptococcus, as shown by the white color in the second image.
And finally several days after that, I again got growth on a dipslide, which when transferred to a chromogenic agar plate turned out to be coliform bacteria, shown by the dark blue color in the third image above.
So for some reason, these 3 bacterial species each appeared on their own, on a separate occasion. I would have thought that if there are 3 bacterial species present in my urinary tract/kidneys, they would all appear at the same time on the same dipslide.
But these bacterial species are obviously not very sociable with each other, so they come out separately. I am not sure if this is the norm, but that's certainly what I observed in my case.
So this shows that if you have identified one bacterial species using a urine dipslide as some chromogenic agar, you probably do not want to stop there; you may want to continue urine testing to see if you can find other species.
Here are some pictures of the chromogenic agar plates on which I transferred the bacteria growing on the urine dipslides, and the colors which have appeared:
On this chromogenic agar plate, the blue-green color
indicates growth Enterococcus, according to the
chromogenic agar instructions.
On this chromogenic agar plate, white color may indicate
Staphylococcus or Streptococcus, according to the
chromogenic agar instructions, but I am not really sure.
On this chromogenic agar plate, the dark blue color
indicates coliform bacteria. Coliforms include Escherichia,
Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Citrobacter and Hafnia. It
cannot be E. coli, however, as the chromogenic agar
instructions show E. coli turns a pink-red color.
indicates growth Enterococcus, according to the
chromogenic agar instructions.
On this chromogenic agar plate, white color may indicate
Staphylococcus or Streptococcus, according to the
chromogenic agar instructions, but I am not really sure.
On this chromogenic agar plate, the dark blue color
indicates coliform bacteria. Coliforms include Escherichia,
Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Citrobacter and Hafnia. It
cannot be E. coli, however, as the chromogenic agar
instructions show E. coli turns a pink-red color.
Interestingly, these different species of bacteria appeared on different days, captured on different dipslides.
Each day I would use a fresh new urine dipslide to expose to my morning urine, and then I would incubate the dipslide at 37°C for 24 hours. The next day, sometimes you would see growth on the dipslide, indicating that you'd caught some bacteria; but other times there would be no growth.
When there was growth, I would transfer the bacteria to the chromogenic agar with a sterile tool (I used a sterile hypodermic needle), and then incubate the chromogenic agar at 37°C.
For the first dipslide which showed growth, when I transferred some of that growth to the chromogenic agar, it turned out to be Enterococcus, as shown by the blue-green color on the first image above.
Then a few days later, I got some more growth on another dipslide. When I transferred this to the chromogenic agar, it turned out to be possibly Staphylococcus or Streptococcus, as shown by the white color in the second image.
And finally several days after that, I again got growth on a dipslide, which when transferred to a chromogenic agar plate turned out to be coliform bacteria, shown by the dark blue color in the third image above.
So for some reason, these 3 bacterial species each appeared on their own, on a separate occasion. I would have thought that if there are 3 bacterial species present in my urinary tract/kidneys, they would all appear at the same time on the same dipslide.
But these bacterial species are obviously not very sociable with each other, so they come out separately. I am not sure if this is the norm, but that's certainly what I observed in my case.
So this shows that if you have identified one bacterial species using a urine dipslide as some chromogenic agar, you probably do not want to stop there; you may want to continue urine testing to see if you can find other species.
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