A Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test for Bacillus anthracis

A rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test for Bacillus anthracis.

An effective public health response to a deliberate release of Bacillus anthracis will require a rapid distribution of antimicrobial agents for postexposure prophylaxis and treatment. However, conventional antimicrobial susceptibility testing for B. anthracis requires a 16- to 20-h incubation period. To reduce this time, we have combined a modified broth microdilution (BMD) susceptibility testi...

Antimicrobial susceptibilities of diverse Bacillus anthracis isolates.

A test of 25 genetically diverse isolates of Bacillus anthracis was conducted to determine their susceptibility to seven clinically relevant antimicrobial agents. Etest strips (AB BIODISK, Solna, Sweden) were used to measure the MICs for the isolates. Using the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards MIC breakpoints for staphylococci, three isolates were found to be resistant to pe...

Susceptibility of Bacillus anthracis to eleven antimicrobial agents including novel fluoroquinolones and a ketolide.

OBJECTIVES To determine the susceptibility of southern African strains of Bacillus anthracis to new, investigational agents as well as conventional antibiotics. MATERIALS AND METHODS The MICs of 26 isolates of B. anthracis from South Africa and Zimbabwe, as well as the Sterne vaccine strain and a type culture strain, were determined by agar dilution. RESULTS The most active antimicrobial ag...

Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, and Burkholderia pseudomallei by Use of Laser Light Scattering Technology.

Rapid methods to determine antimicrobial susceptibility would assist in the timely distribution of effective treatment or postexposure prophylaxis in the aftermath of the release of bacterial biothreat agents such as Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, or Burkholderia pseudomallei Conventional susceptibility tests require 16 to 48 h of incubation, depending on the bacterial species. We evaluat...

Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, and Burkholderia pseudomallei Using Laser Light Scattering Technology