title: Evaluation of Petrifilm Select E. coli Count Plate medium to discriminate antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Screening and enumeration of antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli directly from samples is needed to identify emerging resistant clones and obtain quantitative data for risk assessment. Aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of 3M Petrifilm Select E. coli Count Plate (SEC plate) supplemented with antimicrobials to discriminate antimicrobial-resistant and non-resistant E. coli.
  
  
  METHODS
  A range of E. coli isolates were tested by agar dilution method comparing the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for eight antimicrobials obtained by Mueller-Hinton II agar, MacConkey agar and SEC plates. Kappa statistics was used to assess the levels of agreement when classifying strains as resistant, intermediate or susceptible.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SEC plate showed that 74% of all strains agreed within +/- 1 log2 dilution when comparing MICs with Mueller-Hinton II media. High agreement levels were found for gentamicin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol and cefotaxime, resulting in a kappa value of 0.9 and 100% agreement within +/- 1 log2 dilution. Significant variances were observed for oxytetracycline and sulphamethoxazole. Further tests showed that the observed discrepancy in classification of susceptibility to oxytetracycline by the two media could be overcome when a plate-dependent breakpoint of 64 mg/L was used for SEC plates. For sulphamethoxazole, SEC plates provided unacceptably high MICs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SEC plates showed good agreement with Mueller-Hinton II agar in MIC studies and can be used to screen and discriminate resistant E. coli for ampicillin, cephalothin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, cefotaxime and gentamicin using CLSI standardized breakpoints, but not for sulphamethoxazole. SEC plates can also be used to discriminate oxytetracycline-resistant E. coli if a plate-dependent breakpoint value of 64 mg/L is used.
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Antimicrobial Resistance and Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Microbiology and Risk Assessment, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Bülowsvej 27, DK-1790 Copenhagen V, Denmark. wshuy@food.dtu.dk
authors.forename: Shuyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Eirini
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chouliara
authors.forename: Lars Bogø
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dalsgaard
mesh_terms: D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000379:methods*; D003470:Culture Media; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media