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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 1998, p. 179-183, Vol. 36, No. 1
Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve
University, and University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
441061;
Giles Scientific, Inc., New
York, New York 100112; and
Department of Pathology, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey,
Pennsylvania 170333
Received 26 June 1997/Returned for modification 4 August
1997/Accepted 16 October 1997
The potential for the use of the disk diffusion method to
accurately predict penicillin MICs for Streptococcus
pneumoniae was investigated with penicillin (6 µg), methicillin
(5 µg), and oxacillin (1 µg) disks. A total of 183 S. pneumoniae isolates were tested by three MIC procedures (agar
dilution, microdilution, and E-test). Regression analyses of the
geometric mean of the three MIC results against (i) the sum of the zone
diameters for methicillin, penicillin, and oxacillin disks; (ii) the
sum of the zone diameters for methicillin and penicillin disks; and
(iii) each of the three individual zone diameters were performed.
Calculated MICs were determined from each of these regression analyses
and compared to the mean reference MICs. A high level of correlation was obtained with both the two- and the three-disk procedures (r = 0.97), with essential agreement rates (±1
doubling dilution) between MICs calculated by the three-disk procedure
and the two-disk procedure and the mean reference MICs of 98.4 and
98.9%, respectively. No major or very major errors were obtained with
the two- or three-disk procedures. The accuracy of the disks used
individually was lower (r = 0.84 to 0.93). However,
oxacillin and methicillin disk testing remain excellent for screening
strains, with all penicillin-susceptible strains having zones of >21
and >22 mm, respectively. The combination disk procedure, which
involves the use of three disks (methicillin, oxacillin, and
penicillin) or two disks (methicillin and penicillin) for testing
S. pneumoniae, can provide accurate penicillin MICs and
qualitative category results that are comparable to results obtained by
the E-test, agar, and microdilution MIC methods.
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Determination of Penicillin MICs for
Streptococcus pneumoniae by Using a Two- or Three-Disk
Diffusion Procedure
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Pathology, University Hospitals of Cleveland, 11100 Euclid Ave.,
Cleveland, OH 44106. Phone: (216) 844-3484. Fax: (216) 844-5601.
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