Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) or Antibiotic sensitivity testing is a routine procedure in microbiology and clinical labs. It is used to determine which antibiotics a specific organism or group of organisms are susceptible or resistant, and the minimum concentration at which the antibiotic can inhibit the growth of these organisms. It aids in the evaluation of treatment services provided in hospitals and clinics, as well as prevention and control of infectious diseases. Common techniques for antibiotic susceptibility testing include disk diffusion method, antibiotic dilution assay, and antibiotic strips. Discs impregnated with a particular concentration of the antibiotic are placed onto media inoculated with the infectious agent to determine the antibiotic sensitivity of the organism. The diameters of the inhibition zone formed around each disc after incubation is an indication of the organism's susceptibility towards the antibiotic tested. Antibiotic dilution assay involves performing serial dilutions of the antibiotic stock solution in tubes or wells and growing culture in the dilutions. The lowest dilution which does not show turbidity (i.e. growth) corresponds to the MIC of the antibiotic for the organism under study. Antibiotic strips offer readymade antibiotic dilution on the strips which can be used to determine MIC of an organism cultured on the agar plate.

All these products such as the antibiotic discs, strips, antibiotic powder & solutions required to perform the above laboratory tests can be bought online on Biomall at the best prices.