❖ Antibiotic sensitivity tests

The other test is the antibiotic sensitivity test, to identify the best treatment of patients condition
with minimum effective dose. Also, some bacteria show resistance to large numbers of antibiotic.
So, it’s useful to use this test to identify the best treatment.
There are several methods of antibiotic sensitivity test:
• Disk diffusion test: The assay is employed to identify the clinically acceptable antibiotic
susceptibility of bacteria isolated from an infection in a patient. There will be a region
surrounding the disk where the bacteria have not developed sufficiently to be seen if an
antibiotic prevents the bacteria from growing or kills the bacteria. This is referred to as an
inhibition zone (Figure 2).. By comparing the size of these zones of inhibition to databases
of data on known antibiotic-susceptible, moderately susceptible, and resistant bacteria, it
is then possible to semi-quantify the susceptibility of the bacterial isolate to each antibiotic.
This makes it possible to determine which antibiotic will work best to treat a patient's
infection.
• E-test: (previously known as the Epsilometer test) involves placing a strip that has been
impregnated with antimicrobials onto an agar plate to assess antimicrobial sensitivity. If a
bacterial or fungal strain is sensitive, it won't grow close to an antibiotic or antifungal
concentration (Figure 3).
• Automated systems: Exist that mimic manual procedures, such as distributing samples
and calculating results in dilutional testing or reporting the zone of inhibition in diffusion
testing using imaging and software analysis. One of the most widely used automated
methods is the use of microscan systems.

Figure 2: Disk diffusion test. The zone of growth inhibition will be measured. The largest inhibition with lowest concentration of
antibiotic will be selected to be given to the patient.