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Surveillance of susceptibility testing methodologies for Haemophilus influenzae in Canada, including evaluation of
S R Scriver1, D J Hoban, A McGeer
1Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract:
We surveyed 75 clinical laboratories to determine if National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) were being used for the susceptibility testing of Haemophilus influenzae. Of the 66 laboratories that performed susceptibility testing, all claimed to follow current NCCLS guidelines. However, upon further questioning, only 23, all of which used disk diffusion testing, accurately interpreted and followed the guidelines. Proficiency testing of 22 of these laboratories found that an unacceptable number of interpretive errors (> 10%) occurred. These results query the merit of routine disk diffusion susceptibility testing of H. influenzae to beta-lactam agents.