Anaerobic Bacteriology

AST Methods

June 2012

Methods for anaerobic susceptibility testing include the CLSI reference agar dilution method which is primarily used as a standard for comparison of other methods.  However, it is generally not suitable for clinical laboratory use.  Broth micro dilution panel plates are commercially available.  They are somewhat time consuming and cumbersome and one is restricted to use of the antibiotics which are included in the panel on that particular plate.  The E-test method is a concentration gradient strip agar diffusion method which is probably most practical for the average clinical laboratory.  There is also a commercially available method called the MIC evaluator.  However, currently, it is available only for purchase in Europe.  The E-test method requires forty eight hours of incubation and will provide both an MIC and categorical value result.

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Jump to section:

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Anaerobic Bacteria
• Principal Anaerobic Pathogens
• Specimen Selection: Avoid Contamination With Normal Flora
• Inappropriate Specimens
• Collection and Transport
• Anaerobic Transport Vials
• Anaerobic Transporters
• Anaerobic Culture Media
• Primary Culture CO₂ Holding Jar with Flow Meter
• Incubation
• Anaerobic Jars Set Up Using the Anaero-Pack
• Anaerobic Glove Box
• Anaerobe Culture Triage
• Anaerobe Culture Triage (cont.)
• Identification
• Colonial Morphology
• Pigmented Colonies
• Rapid Identification Using Gram Stain
• Identification
• 16S Ribosomal RNA Sequence of Bacteroides fragilis
• Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing
• AST Methods
• Illustration of the Components of the E-test Method
• Susceptibility Testing by E-test
• Anaerobe Antimicrobial Panels
• References
• Special Thanks
• Questions