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Bacteria research. Stacks of petri dishes containing blood agar for the culture of bacteria from medical samples, and a safety notice warning technicians of the risks of handling samples. Blood agar is a general purpose agar that is used in routine culture procedures. It supports the growth of most medically-significant bacteria, such as those that cause eye and chest infections. Blood agar is usually used for preliminary identifications, after which more specific agar media are used to identify particular strains of bacteria. The strain of bacteria found will determine the type of antibiotic that can be given to a patient to fight an infection. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/SOTIRIS ZAFEIRIS)