Pre-laboratory 1. Define an antimicrobial agent. 2. What is meant by antimicrobi

Question

Pre-laboratory 1. Define an antimicrobial agent. 2. What is meant by antimicrobial resistance? Susceptibility? 3. Why are pure cultures used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing? 4. Would it be acceptable to use a mixed culture for this test? Why? 5. List three factors that can influence the accuracy of the test. 6. Are antibacterial agents useful in viral infections? Explain. 7. Describe a mechanism of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial agents. If the laboratory isolates S. aureus from five patients on the same day, is it necessary to test the antimicrobial susceptibility of each isolate? Why? 8.

Explanation / Answer

The answer to the above question

1) An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops the growth of the microorganism.

2) Antimicrobial resistance - The ability of bacteria and other microorganisms to resist the effects of an antibiotic
Antimicrobial susceptibility - Antimicrobial agents that would be most effective in treating the infection. This used to used to determine which specific antibiotics are sensitive to which particular bacteria or fungus.

3) A pure culture is used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing because a pure culture will give a more accurate measurement of how far the antibiotic interrupted the susceptibility of the microbes, to see how far the growth of the organism is interrupted by the antibiotic.  

4) Using mixed culture would not be acceptable because the activity of the contaminate microbe will interfere with the accuracy of the result. We can't exactly measure antimicrobial resistance and susceptibility.  

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