Heat with agitation to dissolve agar. Autoclave 15 min at 121°C. Cool to 50°C. Add 5 ml defibrinated sheep red blood cells to 100 ml melted agar. Mix and pour 20 ml portions into sterile 15 x 100 mm petri dishes. Final pH of base, 7.3 ± 0.2.

Tryptic soy agar, tryptic soy agar blood base, or trypticase soy agar [soybean-casein digest agar (M152)] may be used as the basal medium. Commercially available sheep blood agar plates are satisfactory. Blood agar base is available from Difco, BBL, and Oxoid.

For Vibrio hollisae, add NaCl to a final concentration of 1%.

Hypertext updated by rim/cjm 2005-OCT-21