title: Failure of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to grow in the ATB NH susceptibility test system.
abstract: The ATB NH system designed for antibiotic susceptibility testing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae was evaluated using 94 clinical isolates of gonococci representing a wide variety of serovar/auxotype strains. Using the manufacturer's automated system 55% of the clinical isolates failed to grow, compared with a 33% failure rate for manual processing and visual reading. Growth failure was significantly higher with 1A isolates (73% automated and 69% manual) than with 1B isolates (49% automated and 25% manual). The higher failure rate of 1A isolates correlated with multiple auxotrophy. The inability of the ATB NH system to support the growth of common serovar/auxotypes makes the ATB NH system unsuitable for antibiotic susceptibility testing of N. gonorrhoeae.
authors.affiliation: Scottish Neisseria gonorrhoeae Reference Laboratory, Department of Medical Microbiology, Edinburgh University Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moyes
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hardie
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*