Vol.59 No.5 September 2011
Antibiotic susceptibility testing and breakpoint -Their problems and future prospects-
Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Toho University School of Medicine, 5-21-16 Omori-nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract
The results of drug susceptibility testing provide useful information for selecting effective antibiotics for patients. The choice of antibiotic to administer should take into consideration not only the minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) value but also the concentration of antibiotic at the site of infection. Sometimes different methods of antibiotic susceptibility testing such as microbroth dilution method and automated systems including WalkAway, Phoenix or Vitek 2, will show different results. In addition, an important consideration for antibiotic susceptibility testing is reliable quality control. Breakpoints are changed by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute or European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing every year based on scientific and clinical evidence. This review will focus on the reasons for determining MIC values and changing breakpoints.
Key word
drug-susceptibility, minimum inhibitory concentration, breakpoint
Received
July 15, 2011
Accepted
July 22, 2011
Jpn. J. Chemother. 59 (5): 454-459, 2011
