title: Screening for antimicrobial resistance in normal bacterial flora of the skin using the replica plating method.
abstract: The replica plating method was evaluated for detection of the antimicrobial resistance of normal bacterial flora of the skin and was compared with the results of a ten-colony method. If > or = 10% of the colonies from the master plate grew on a plate containing an antibiotic, the sensitivity of replica plating was comparable to that of a ten-colony method for samples containing resistant bacteria. However, this method classified significantly more samples as resistant to all eight antibiotics tested if the detection breakpoint was lowered to > or = 1% of the original colonies. Replica plating is an effective and practical tool for screening skin flora for resistance, also in samples with a low proportion of resistant strains.
authors.affiliation: Antimicrobial Research Laboratory, National Public Health Institute, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paavilainen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osterblad
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leistevuo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Huovinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kotilainen
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D003470:Culture Media; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D003470:Culture Media