Module 7 Flashcards
Goal of susceptibility testing
provide a list of antimicrobials that would be effective against the organism responsible for the infection
In vitro
in the lab
In vivo
In the body
Questions Dr has to ask to determine if its a good antimicrobial to prescribe (4)
Is the antimicrobial effective at the pH found at the site of infection?
Will the antimicrobial penetrate to the site of infection?
Is it toxic to host tissue?
Is it cost effective?
3 conventional methods of performing antimicrobial susceptibility testing
broth dilution
agar dilution
disc diffusion
of colonies selected for inoculum
3-10 colonies taken from primary plate
Mixed cultures cannot be used
Growth phase of inoculum
Log growth phase when cells are most active
Indirect method
Selected colonies are inoculated to a broth and incubated for 4hrs until visually turbid (entering log phase)
Direct method
colonies in log phase are selected and emulsified in a broth to reach the turbidity standard needed
Standardizing inoculum
inoculated broth is standardized to 0.5 McFarland standard (1.5 x 10^8 CFU/mL)
Sterile saline or broth is added until it matches the standard if the turbidity it too heavy
Growth medium for susceptibility testing
Mueller Hinton (MH) broth or agar Contains: beef infusion, acid hydrolysis of casein, starch, water, agar for MH agar Final pH should be 7.2-7.4
Cations in growth medium
Concentration of Ca and Mg must be close to body tissue levels (physiological concentration)
Ca and Mg affect rate of movement of aminoglycosides into the cell
Low concentration = more antibiotic moves into cell = false susceptible results (falsely large zones)
High concentration = less antibiotic moves into cell = false resistance results (falsely small zones)
Check quality control of levels using Pseudomonas aeruginsoa with Aminoglycoside antibiotic
Thymidine concentration in growth medium
May interfere with results for sulphonamides and trimethoprim
Some bacteria use thymidine and bypass PABA to folic acid pathway that is inhibited by these antimicrobials (shows false resistance)
Media summary
Meuller Hinton broth or agar
pH 7.2-7.4
Divalent cations, Ca and Mg need to be at corrected concentrations for testing Aminoglycosides
Keep Thymidine level low for Sulphonamide and Trimethoprim testing
2 types of Broth dilution
Macro methods - manual method that may be used as a reference method
Micro methods - use in semi and fully automated methods
Macro Dilution method
Antimicrobial is diluted - antimicrobial + broth (doubling dilutions = 200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5, 6.25, 3) into each test tube.
A standardized inoculum of the organism is added to each tube
All tubes have the same total mL in them
Last tube gets no antimicrobial and serves are growth control
Tubes incubated overnight @ 35C in ambient air
Macro Dilution concentration
usually ug/mL but should be mg/L (SI units)
Number stays the same when converting the two
10ug/mL = 10mg/L
Macro Dilution math
V1C1=V2C2
MIC
Minimal inhibitory concentration is the lowest concentration of an antimicrobial in mg/L that prevents in vitro growth of the organism
Control must show growth
For an antimicrobial to be effective in vivo:
the in vivo level (determined by manufacturer/pharmacological info) should be 2-4x higher than the in vitro MIC
Urine levels are usually much higher than blood levels
MBC
Minimal Bactericidal Concentration is the lowest concentration of antimicrobial (mg/L) that results in more than 99.9% killing in vitro
Can only be determined for bactericidal antimicrobials
MIC must first be determined. For all tubes showing no growth, subculture to an agar medium with no other antimicrobials. Incubate over night and read for growth.
The MBC would never be lower than the MIC
Microdilution Broth Susceptibility tests
Based on same principles as macro method
Plastic plates with molded micro tube wells (100 or more)
Allows doubling dilutions of 10 or more antimicrobials per plate
Frozen at -20C or lyophilized at RT 4degC
Reading micro dilution plates
Incubated overnight @35C in ambient air
2 control wells to read first:
Sterility Well: S contains growth medium that is not inoculated (should be clear, no turbidity or growth)
Growth control: G contains the growth medium (no antimicrobial) and is inoculated with a probe (should show growth, turbidity or “button” of growth in well)