Disclosed herein are methods for screening clinical or biological samples to determine the presence of L-form bacteria within the sample. Methods include contacting a sample to a liquid growth medium and incubating the liquid growth medium at a temperature lower than 37 degrees C. The liquid growth medium is monitored for L-form bacterial growth. An amount of the liquid growth medium is transferred as an inoculant to a solid growth medium, and the solid growth medium is incubated under conditions that maintain a hydrated state of the inoculant to enable the L-form bacteria to efficiently interface with the solid growth medium and continue to grow.