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Bacteria culture
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A bacteria culture is a lab test built to answer two questions: whether there is an infection caused by bacteria and, if there is, which bacteria is behind it.
The trick is letting the bacteria give themselves away by growing. The sample taken from the person goes to the lab and is placed in a dish holding a special substance prepared to feed them. A single bacterium is invisible to the eye; many of them together, after multiplying, form a patch that can be seen and studied. It works much like planting seeds to find out what plant they will become: the growing has to happen first.
So a culture helps diagnose certain infections, but it arrives as one piece of the workup rather than the whole of it.
In brief
A bacterial culture is the test that can determine whether there is a bacterial infection and, if so, which type of bacteria is causing it.
The sample goes to a lab, where the bacteria are placed in a dish with a special substance that lets them grow until they become visible and identifiable.
Bacterial culture tests are used to help diagnose certain types of infection; they are one piece of the workup, not the whole workup.
Sources (1)
- MedlinePlusBacteria Culture Test
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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