Antibiotic susceptibility testing of gram-negative nonfermentative bacilli.

A study was undertaken to determine if current methods of antibiotic susceptibility testing could be successfully applied to the gram-negative nonfermentative bacilli. Using clinical isolates and reference strains, experiments were conducted on the inherent reliability of the Bauer-Kirby method, as well as the effect of certain modifications on the method such as elimination of the 2- to 5-h incubation in broth and use of different agar media. Results obtained using these modifications were compared to the results obtained by the standard method. It was shown that the two modifications investigated had a significant effect on the interpretation of zone diameters. It was further shown that the standard Bauer-Kirby method with some exceptions correlates with minimal inhibitory concentrations as determined by broth dilution methods. Results suggest that the Bauer-Kirby method may be a reliable technique for testing the antibiotic susceptibility of the nonfermentative bacilli.