Preliminary indications for antibiotic susceptibility tests in less than six hour in positive blood cultures

Abstract

A rapid determination of the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of pathogens responsible for sepsis represents a significant milestone for a timely correct antibiotic therapy.The system HB&L® (ALIFAX) allows reduced time in the detection of bacterial growth and consequently is able to detect the growth or absence of certain microorganisms in the presence of a given antibiotic. In this study three system for rapid antibiotic susceptibility tests among bacteria isolated from blood were compared: HB&L® (ALIFAX),VITEK®2 (bioMérieux) and essays Etest® (bioMérieux). Present findings indicate that HB&L® (ALIFAX) is rapid reliable instrument that may support the clinician for a rapid and appropriate treatment, particularly in the critical patient.

Keywords

• Antimicrobial susceptibility tests
• Sepsis, Critical illness