| 摘要 |
<p>A fixed functional relationship in either tabular or equation form is established between the growth of various microorganisms in the presence of a few (e.g., one or two) predetermined concentrations of a predetermined antibiotic and the minimum concentration of such antibiotic necessary to at least inhibit the activity of such samples. The relationships are established for each desired combination of antibiotic and general class of microorganisms and the degree of growth is measured at a predetermined time or level of growth, preferably before saturation occurs at "growth" or "no growth" extremes. The minimum concentrations used in deriving these fixed relationships are determined by standard accepted quantitative techniques. Thereafter, the minimum concentration of the predetermined antibiotic necessary to at least inhibit the activity of any given pathogenic microorganism taken from the same predetermined general class of organisms may be rapidly and accurately determined by (1) measuring the growth of such sampled pathogenic organism after the same predetermined time in the presence of the same few (e.g., one or two) predetermined concentrations of the antibiotic and (2) using the resulting measurements together with the previously established fixed functional relationship to identify the required minimum concentration for that particular combination of microorganism and antibiotic. Apparatus for semiautomatically and for automatically carrying out this method are also disclosed.</p> |
