Susceptibility testing of anaerobic bacteria

Development of resistance to antimicrobics that have been considered active against clinically significant anaerobes and the rapid introduction of many new agents dictate a need for timely susceptibility data. Although the availability of published results and information from periodic institutional surveys will suffice for most laboratories, some will want to perform day-to-day testing of selected current isolates. The National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards has published an Approved Standard and a Proposed Guideline for Alternative Methods for susceptibility testing of anaerobes. These methods are described in detail. The need for further refinement of existing techniques and for the establishment of standards for the more practical broth-disk elution and microdilution methods is examined.