What are the common types of culture media used for testing pathogens?

The primary aim of culturing is to provide nutritional requirements to support the growth of specific pathogens. 

Based on consistency, there are three main types of culture media used for testing pathogens: 

• Solid culture media:  Used for culturing bacteria and fungi, this type of culture is made up of a mixture of agar, nutrients, and salt with a solid surface. 
• Liquid culture media: In liquid culture media, the microbial cells, mainly parasites and mycobacteria, are grown inside a liquid media and translated into a colloidal suspension. Microbial growth is detected by determining the time the liquid media takes to form the colloidal suspension. 
• Cell culture media: Mainly used for identifying viruses, cell culture media involves infecting animal or human cell cultures with the desired microbe and observing the effect of the microbe on the cells. 

Based on the components, culture media can also categorized into these classes:

• Simple media: Simple media, also known as nutrient broth, consists mainly of sodium chloride, meat extract, peptone, and water. On adding glucose, nutrient broth is converted to glucose broth. 
• Complex media: Complex media contains additional ingredients that help to enhance and highlight specific qualities and provide nutrients for the growth of certain types of microbes. It may contain extracts from plants, animals, or yeast. 
• Synthetic media: Mainly used for research purposes synthetic media are prepared by mixing organic and inorganic chemicals with distilled water following an exact formula.