Diagnosis of leptospirosis remains problematic. Culturing
leptospires from blood or urine, although considered
the gold standard for diagnosis, remains an imperfect
test. Current culture methods require special media and
tools that are often not available to the average clinician
(Levett, 2001). The use of routine aerobic blood culture
media has met with poor results in the past (Palmer et al,
1984; Palmer and Zochowski, 2000). Our study shows that
mycobacterial blood culture media, which is often available
to clinical laboratories, can support viable Leptospira for up
to 2 weeks.