Journal of clinical microbiology
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In our laboratory, culture of sputum was extremely useful in diagnosing the etiology of pneumococcal pneumonia. Of 31 consecutive patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia, 29 (94%) had Streptococcus pneumoniae cultured from sputum. Recovery of pneumococci in culture was enhanced by anaerobic incubation as well as by a plate bile test and an optochin disk on a primary blood agar plate.