New aid to management of septicaemia: rapid direct antibiotic susceptibility testing

A rapid and reliable method of performing direct antibiotic susceptibility tests on positive blood cultures has been developed. A result is now available five hours after laboratory confirmation of septicaemia. An evaluation involving 55 blood-culture isolates demonstrated an over-all correlation of 97.8% when results obtained by the rapid direct Autobac l method were compared to those obtained by definitive testing procedures. The method is particularly applicable to isolates of Staphyloccus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the Enterobacteriaceae. It is especially significant because of the recent emergence of multiple antibiotic resistance amongst hospital strains of these bacteria with many isolates showing resistance to antibiotics frequently used in the empirical treatment of septicaemia. The rapid availability of a reliable antibiogram is important in allowing early appropriate chemotherapy and, hence, in the reduction of septicaemia-associated morbidity and mortality, and the length of stay in hospital.