Antimicrobial susceptibility testing

A variety of commercial kits and automated systems are available to test the abilities of bacteria to assimilate, ferment, decarboxylate, or cleave selected organic compounds.46 Their reliability for species identification is usually greater with cultures from clinical samples, where a limited number of bacteria are commonly encountered, and less with environmental soil and water samples, where a great many uncommon or previously unidentified species not in the database are likely to be present.29,45 Additional tests beyond those found in the commercial kits may be necessary for example, the hydrolysis of various nitriles and amides is useful for identifying Rhodococcus spp.47 Some commercial kits for clinical use feature antimicrobial susceptibility testing.21... 

Fahr, A. M. Eigner, U. Armbrust, M. Caganic, A. Dettori, G. Chezzi, C. Bertoncini, L. Benecchi, M. Menozzi, M. G. Two-center collaborative evaluation of the performance of the BD Phoenix automated microbiology system for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Enterococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2003, 41,1135-1142. 

EUCAST European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing... 

European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) (2011) Available from http //www.eucast.org/30 Aug 2011... 

Clinical CLSI (2007) Performance standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing MIOO-S17. Wayne, PA, 27... 

National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (2003) Methods for Dilution Antimicrobial Susceptibility Tests for Bacteria That Grow Aerobically Approved Standard, M7-A6. NCCLS, Wayne, PA... 

Ani AE, Main AO, Onah JA, Queiroz DM, Kirschner G, Rocha GA. Antimicrobial susceptibility test of Helicobacter pylori isolated from Jos, Nigeria. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 1999 93(6) 659-61. 

Koneman, E. W., Allen, S.D.,Janda,W.M.,Schreckenberger, P. C. Winn, W. C. (1997) Antimicrobial susceptibility testing. In Color Atlas and Textbook of Diagnostic Microbiology, 5th edn, pp. 785-856. Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia. 

National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (2000) Methods for dilution antimicrobial susceptibility tests for bacteria that grow aerobically approved standard, 5th edn. NCCLS document M7-A5, Wayne, PA. 

Prescott, J.F. Baggot, J.D. (1985) Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and antimicrobial drug dosage. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 187, 363-368. 

Terrorists may attempt to use drug resistant organisms in their attack. Obviously, it is imperative to obtain the appropriate specimens, perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing of isolates promptly, and alter mass treatment accordingly (43). All antibiotics useful in treating tularemia are included in the strategic national stockpile. Chapter 6 discusses how public health officials will implement mass treatment plans, and how they will involve primary care physicians. 

Although highly standardized, in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing has limitations and often cannot truly mimic the conditions found at the site of an infection. This may have implications for discordance between in vitro susceptibility results and in vivo response to therapy. 

Most antimicrobial susceptibility tests used in the clinical laboratory are well characterized and have been standardized by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS). However, controversies still exist surrounding the exact test methods, interpretation and reporting of test results, and application of the results to the treatment of patients. Nevertheless, there are many investigations that show that the general antimicrobial susceptibility or resistance profile of an infecting organism correlates with clinical and/or microbiologic responses to therapy. 

Jorgensen JH, Ferraro MJ. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing Special needs for fastidious organisms and difficult-to-detect resistance mechanisms. Clin Infect Dis 2000 30 799-808. 

Chiang YL, Lin CH, Yen MY, Su YD, Chen SJ, Chen HF (2009) Innovative antimicrobial susceptibility testing method using surface plasmon resonance. Biosens Bioelectron 24 1905-1910 China B, Pirson V, Mainil J (1996) Typing of bovine attaching and effacing Escherichia coli by multiplex in vitro amplification of virulence-associated genes. Appl Environ Microbiol 62 3462-3465... 

NCCLS (2003) National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards Document M100-S13 Performance standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. 13th Informational Supplement NCCLS, Villanova, PA... 

Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing, 23" Informational Supplement, Approved Document M100-S23, Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute, Wayne, PA, USA, 2013. 

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