title: Is rapid antibacterial susceptibility testing medium reliable for routine laboratory practices?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Early detection of antibiotic susceptibility profile of the isolates has critical importance in terms of immediate beginning of the appropriate treatment and increasing of treatment success, such as meningitis, bacteriemia and sepsis. In the present study, it was aimed to compare the antibiotic susceptibility results of Quicolor (Salubris Inc., Massachusetts, USA) and standard disk diffusion method.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred twenty three isolates were included in this study (80 Enterobacteriaceae, 15 Staphylococci and 28 nonfermentative Gram-negative bacteria). Antibiotic susceptibility in clinical isolates was evaluated using Mueller-Hinton (MH) agar and Quicolor (ES and NF) agar plates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For Enterobacteriaceae, frequency of total concordance, major error, and minor error between the tests were found as 96.8%, 0.8%, and 2.4%, respectively. For Staphylococci, frequency of total concordance, major error, and minor error among the tests were found as 95.7%, 3.5%, and 0.8%, respectively. For non fermentative bacteria, frequency of total concordance, major error, and minor error among the tests were found as 83.9%, 9.6%, and 6.4%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Quicolor media provided reliable susceptibility results in enteric bacteria and Staphylococci. However, further studies including higher number of nonfermentative bacteria are required to determine whether the chromogenic media are appropriate for this group of bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Gulhan Yagmur, Department of Postmortem Microbiology, Council of Forensic Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gulhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yagmur
authors.affiliation: Baris Derya Ercal, Department of Medical Microbiology, Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Baris Derya
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Ercal
authors.affiliation: Zafer Mengeloglu, Abant Izzet Baysal University Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Microbiology, Bolu, Turkey.
authors.forename: Zafer
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mengeloglu
authors.affiliation: Fatma Mutlu Sariguzel, Department of Microbiology, Kayseri Training and Research Hospital, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatma Mutlu
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Sariguzel
authors.affiliation: Elife Berk, Department of Medical Microbiology, Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Elife
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Berk
authors.affiliation: Derya Saglam, Department of Microbiology, Kayseri Training and Research Hospital, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Derya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Saglam
keywords: Antibacterial susceptibility; Disk diffusion; Quicolor agar