A culture of Bacillus anthracis

A microbiological culture is a tool to determine the cause of infectious disease by letting the agent multiply (reproduce) in predetermined media in laboratory. A Petri dish is often used to grow bacterial cultures. More generally, the term culture is used informally to mean "selectively grow" a specific kind of microorganism in the lab. It is the foundational and basic diagnostic method of microbiology. The term culture can also, though infrequently and informally, be used as a synonym for tissue culture which involves the growth of cells or tissues explanted from a multi-cellular organism.

First, a throat smear is taken by scraping the lining of the tissue in the throat. Then the sample is blotted into an (often agar) media to screen for various harmful microorganisms.

Types of culture

• Hemoculture
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