Standardised antimicrobial sensitivity testing in veterinary practice

Abstract

A standardised antimicrobial sensitivity testing method for veterinary use is described. The method makes use of Neo-Sensitabs tablets, and is based in a quantitative technique relating, diameter of inhibition zones to MIC values, and to serum concentrations for the different antimicrobials used in veterinary medicine. The sensitivity testing method has been standardised with 4 different media: Danish Blood Agar, Mueller-Hinton Agar, DST Agar, and Iso-sensitest Agar and with two different inocula (according to ICS and Kirby-Bauer respectively). Information is given on cross-resistance between different antimicrobials, and basic sets of drugs are recommended for routine use. Interpretation tablets are given for both inocula (semi-confluent or confluent colonies), and a quality control procedure using two standard strains (E. Coli ATCC 25922 and Staph, aureus ATCC 25923), enables the regular control of the media and inocula used in the test.