BACKGROUND The necessity of performing antifungal susceptibility tests is recently increasing because of frequent cases of oral candidiasis caused by antifungal-resistant Candida species. The Etest (BioMerieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) is a rapid and easy-to-perform in vitro antifungal susceptibility test. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the minimal inhibitory concentratio...

We prospectively determined the antifungal susceptibility of yeast isolates causing fungemia using the Etest on direct blood samples (195 prospectively collected and 133 laboratory prepared). We compared the Etest direct (24 h of incubation) with CLSI M27-A3 and the standard Etest methodologies for fluconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, isavuconazole, caspofungin, and amphotericin B. Strains ...

OBJECTIVE The activity of voriconazole against Aspergillus spp. (n = 77) was tested by the Etest, disc diffusion and the NCCLS M38-A methods. METHODS Four Rhizomucor spp. isolates were included to study the suitability of the three susceptibility testing methods to detect isolates resistant to voriconazole. The disc diffusion method performed on Mueller-Hinton agar (Difco) supplemented with 2...

Glycopeptide-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (GISA) and, in particular, heterogeneous GISA (hGISA) are difficult to detect by standard MIC methods, and thus, an accurate detection method for clinical practice and surveillances is needed. Two prototype Etest strips designed for hGISA/GISA resistance detection (GRD) were evaluated using a worldwide collection of hGISA/GISA strains covering the...

Present methods of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Bordetella pertussis are time consuming and require specialized media that are not commercially available. We tested 52 isolates of B. pertussis for resistance to erythromycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, chloramphenicol, and rifampin by agar dilution with Bordet-Gengou agar (BGA) containing 20% horse blood (reference method), Etest ...

In vitro synergy testing using levofloxacin (LVX) plus piperacillin/tazobactam (TZP) was performed by Etest and time-kill assay (TKA) for 31 unique fluoroquinolone-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates. The Etest method showed synergy for 9/31 (29%) of isolates, while TKA showed synergy with 14/31 (45%) of isolates. When comparing the Etest method and TKA, concordant results for synergy, an...

Background: Helicobacter pylori susceptibility to clarithromycin and fluoroquinolone can be determined through Etest or molecular assays. We examined the correlation between phenotypic susceptibility (MIC results) and genotypic susceptibility in H. pylori strains isolated from gastric biopsies. Results: Out of 85 duplicate biopsies obtained from patients from northern Israel who underwent endos...

The study relates to the theory of diffusion methods for antibiotic sensitivity testing. The aim of the study was to show the relationship between the antibiotic critical concentration (Cc) and its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The results contribute to the explanation of the Etest's reliability and support the scientific basis for MIC determination using agar diffusion methods. Susce...