Evaluation of the AutoMicrobic system for identification and susceptibility testing of gram-negative bacilli

The AutoMicrobic system (AMS) (Vitek Systems, Inc., Hazelwood, Mo.) was compared with the API-20E system for the identification of gram-negative bacilli by using 380 stock clinical isolates and 377 immediately encountered fresh clinical isolates. For the stock isolates, with Enterobacteriaceae-Plus Biochemical Cards and automated interpretation, 364 (95.8%) were in agreement to the species level. For the fresh clinical isolates, agreement at the genus and species levels was 89.7 and 85.9%, respectively, when Enterobacteriaceae-Plus Cards were interpreted by the AMS. Manual interpretation of Enterobacteriaceae-Plus Biochemical Cards improved species level agreement to 91.0%. Subsequent retesting of all discrepant isolates with the Gram-Negative Identification Card resulted in significant improvement of results, and for the stock and fresh clinical isolates, species level agreement was 98.7 and 97.3%, respectively. AMS susceptibility testing was evaluated by comparing ampicillin and cephalothin MICs determined in parallel by AMS and a reference broth microdilution test for stock isolates, and by comparison of AMS and standardized disk agar diffusion test results for fresh clinical isolates. For the stock isolates, AMS mean integer MICs approximated microdilution mean integer MICs with AMS, providing excellent MIC replicability. For ampicillin and cephalothin, 50 and 46.8%, respectively, of AMS integer MICs were within +/- 1 microgram/ml of the reference values, and 89.3 and 63.1% of AMS integer MICs were within +/- 2 micrograms/ml of the reference values. For the fresh clinical isolates, AMS and reference results were in disagreement for 4.5% of the antimicrobial agents tested, with 2.3% as a combination of "major" and "very major" errors.