Abstract Background: Infections of the body fluids has increased morbidity and mortality. Recovering causative organisms in these situations are a challenging task for any microbiologist as conventional methods culture positivity is low when compared with automated system which is very expensive and not frequently seen in small labs. Aim: To evaluate the mechanical glass bead agitation method for the isolation of organisms from body fluids and compare the results with the conventional method. Materials and Method: A pilot study was conducted in microbiology department at Sri Ramachandra medical college and research institute between September and December 2010. A total of 100 body fluid samples obtained from various sites like Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 31, Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) 2, pleural fluid 16, synovial fluid 19, ascitic fluid 29 and bile 3 were subjected to culture by normal conventional method and also by physical disruption of the body fluids using sterile glass beads simultaneously. Culture medium used for the both methods were 5% sheep blood agar, Chocolate agar, Mac-Conkey agar and thioglycolate broth. Results: Out of the 100 samples processed by conventional method and glass bead agitation method, culture positivity was 6(6%) and 15 (15%) respectively. All the cultures that showed positive in conventional method were also positive in mechanical glass bead agitation method with the growth of the same organism. By conventional method the breakup of isolates were Escherichia coli 2 in Bile fluid, 1 Klebsiella spp in Cerebrospinal fluid, 1 Acinetobacter spp in Ascitic fluid, 1 Enterobacter spp in Pleural fluid and 1 Streptococcus spp in Bile.. The breakup of isolates by glass bead method were Klebsiella spp 1 in Cerebrospinal fluid, 2 E.coli and 2 Enterobacter spp in Pleural fluid, 2 Pseudomonas spp and 1 E.coli in Synovial fluid, 2 Acinetobacter spp, 1 Enterobacter spp and 1 Klebsiella spp in ascitic fluid, 2 E.coli and 1 Streptococcus spp in Bile fluid. Conclusion: Mechanical glass bead agitation method culture positivity is better than the convention method, hence can be adopted as a method of choice where expensive automated culture facilities are not available.

Keywords: Glass beads, lysis centrifugation and Automated culture system.