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PubMed1976

Reevaluation of the disk diffusion method for sulfonamide susceptibility testing of Neisseria meningitidis.

Lack of correlation between quantitative minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) determinations and disk diffusion susceptibility tests in our laboratory prompted a study to reevaluate the use of the disk diffusion test for sulfonamide susceptibility testing of Neisseria meningitidis. One hundred and sixty-three recent clinical isolates of N. meningitidis were examined for sulfonamide susceptibility by the agar dilution and disk diffusion methods. Optimal inocula for each of the tests were determined, and thereafter all disk diffusion tests were compared with quantitative MICs as determined by the agar dilution method using sulfadiazine and an inoculum of 10(6) colony-forming units (CFU)/ml. The clearest and most reproducible zone diameters were obtained with a 10(7)-CFU/ml inoculum in the disk diffusion test. There was complete correlation between the disk zone diameters for 300-mug disks of sulfadiazine and sulfathiazole and the agar dilution test MICs. All isolates with a zone diameter of <20 mm were resistant to sulfadiazine, whereas those with zone diameters of >/=30 mm were susceptible. False susceptible and false resistant readings were obtained with 300-mug sulfisoxazole disks. These data suggest that inocula and type of sulfonamide are critical factors in the disk diffusion test for meningococcal susceptibility testing. Sulfonamide disks are not interchangeable for susceptibility testing of meningococci.

Culture Media↗

PubMed1975

Influences of media and inocula on the in vitro susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae to co-trimoxazole, ampicillin, penicillin, and chloramphenicol.

The effects of inocula and media on the activities of ampicillin, penicillin, chloramphenicol and co-trimoxazole against Haemophilus influenzae were examined in vitro. Two inocula and four media were tested by the disk diffusion, broth dilution, and agar dilution methods. Chloramphenicol activity versus H. influenzae was least affected by changes in inocula and media, whereas co-trimoxazole was most susceptible to these effects. Filde's and Levinthal's agar dilution tests were most satisfactory for ampicillin. Penicillin was less active on Levinthal's than on Filde's agar. Both ampicillin and penicillin were less active when tested against the higher inoculum. Co-trimoxazole was most active (<1% H. influenzae was resistant) when tested at an inoculum of 10(6) colony-forming units/ml on diagnostic susceptibility test agar with 5% lysed horse blood added. The majority of H. influenzae appeared resistant to co-trimoxazole with increases in the test inocula and/or when tested on brain heart infusion with Filde's, Levinthal's or "low-thymidine" Mueller-Hinton medium.

Ampicillin↗