A clinical microbiologist makes serial dilutions of several antimicrobics in broth, and then incubates each drug dilution series with a standard amount of a patient's isolated pathogen.What is this microbiologist setting up?
A)Kirby-Bauer test
B)antibiogram
C)E-test
D)minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)
E)therapeutic index (TI)

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The clinical microbiologist is setting up a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test, which involves making serial dilutions of antimicrobics in broth and incubating them with a standard amount of the patient's isolated pathogen to determine the lowest concentration of the drug that can inhibit growth of the pathogen. This test is used to determine the most effective antimicrobial treatment for the patient's infection. The Kirby-Bauer test involves placing antimicrobial disks on a agar plate with bacterial inoculum, the E-test is another method to determine MIC, and an antibiogram is a report of microbial susceptibility to different antimicrobials. The therapeutic index (TI) is a ratio that compares the dose of a drug that produces a desired effect to the dose that produces toxicity.

A Clinical Microbiologist Makes Serial Dilutions of Several Antimicrobics in Broth