Piperacillin/Tazobactam PIT 30/6 µg (1x50 disks, Mast)

Background:
Antibiotic disc susceptibility tests are used to determine the semi-quantitative susceptibility of common, fast-growing, and certain fastidious bacteria to antibiotics using the agar diffusion method.

Test Principle:
Filter paper discs impregnated with defined quantities of antibiotics are placed on the surface of an appropriate medium (e.g., Mueller-Hinton agar). The culture medium must first be inoculated with a standardized inoculum (EUCAST recommendation: McFarland 0.5) of a fresh pure culture of the bacterial strain to be tested. After 24 hours of incubation, growth is checked, the inhibition zones around the test discs are measured, and compared with the clinical breakpoints for the various antibiotics tested to determine susceptibility (S - Susceptible at standard exposure, I - Susceptible at increased exposure, R - Resistant). The diameter of the inhibition zones corresponds to the susceptibility of the tested bacterial strain to the antibiotic concentration at the edge of the inhibition zone.

You can find various service documents, such as templates with inhibition zone boundaries for easy evaluation of the agar diffusion test, a collection of guidelines, and application videos in our media library.

Content and Storage:

• Cartridges, each containing 50 test discs.
• Store at 2-8°C.

Note: MAST system cartridges are only compatible with MAST dispensers.

As an alternative to agar diffusion, we recommend agar dilution, which can be partially automated with, for example, the MICRONAUT system, and for which there are increasingly more precise clinical breakpoints. That is, since EUCAST 10.0 (2020) at the latest, certain antibiotics can only be tested by agar dilution and no longer by agar diffusion (!). We would be happy to advise you on this and help you find the best solution for you.