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Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2000) 45, 757-762
© 2000 The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

For debate

Towards a common susceptibility testing method?

I. M. Gould*

Department of Medical Microbiology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, Scotland, UK

Introduction

Antibiotic susceptibility testing in clinical diagnostic laboratories is a routine procedure of proven clinical benefit and is of increasing importance as we suffer under an increasing burden of antibiotic resistance.1 The problems of resistance are leading to an increasing emphasis on performance of susceptibility testing to generate resistance surveillance data. The need to compare this type of information across different centres and countries is necessitating a reassessment of methods in common use. Susceptibility testing is most commonly performed by agar or broth dilution with measurement of MICs or (most commonly in the UK) agar disc diffusion with measurement of zone sizes. Several authorities publish recommended methods.2–5 In the UK most laboratories still use a modification of Stokes' method.6 The BSAC has proposed another new method of agar disc diffusion which circumvents many of the criticisms of Stokes' method and are calling for this method to become the UK standard. The . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Problems with Stokes' method and the need for a change

The need for and the benefits of surveillance

Agar disc diffusion or breakpoint MIC?

NCCLS in comparison with the new BSAC method

The current situation in the UK, Europe and the world

Conclusions

Editorial note

Notes

References


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