Survey of disc diffusion antimicrobial sensitivity testing in avian bacteriology laboratories and the evaluation of a standardised method

A survey was conducted in which 15 laboratories involved in avian bacteriology tested the antimicrobial sensitivity of cultures of Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Alcaligenes faecalis and Salmonella typhimurium, using the disc diffusion test as routinely practised in each laboratory. Up to 28 different antimicrobials or antimicrobial combinations were used. The most commonly tested agents were ampicillin, benzylpenicillin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, furazolidone, neomycin, streptomycin, sulphonamide, tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulphonamide. Results between laboratories were compared according to the width of the zone of inhibition (annular radius) where 5 or more laboratories used the same disc content of a particular antimicrobial agent, and on whether a culture was interpreted as being sensitive or resistant to a particular agent. The variation in annular radii about the mean values were less than +/- 2 SD in 39.5% and greater than +/- 3 SD in 32.6% of 43 different antimicrobial/culture combinations involving 8 different agents. The range of annular radii measurements was greatest with trimethoprim/sulphonamide and streptomycin discs and with the S. epidermidis culture. Variation in the interpretation of test results was greatest with the Gram-negative bacteria, where for each of the more frequently tested agents at least one, commonly 2 and sometimes all 3 cultures were reported as sensitive and resistant to the same agent by different laboratories. The calibrated dichotomous sensitivity (CDS) test of Bell (1975, 1984) was evaluated as a standardised disc diffusion procedure and was found to be reproducible and accurate. Results obtained using antimicrobial agents calibrated for use in the CDS test were compared with results obtained in the survey using the same agents or agents showing identical resistance patterns.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)