KIRBY BAUER TEST

MBC TEST
MANECLANG. WENN JOYRENZ U.
2NUR-6

DEFINITION OF TERMS
ZONE OF INHIBITION

KIRBY
BAUE
R
TEST

area of media where bacteria are unable to

grow due to the presence of a drug that
impedes their growth
Concentration and rate of growth of diffusion
of the antibiotic on the disk

MINIMUM INHIBITORY
CONCENTRATION
lowest concentration of an antimicrobial
drug that prevents visible growth of a
microorganism after overnight incubation
with media

KIRBY
BAUE
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Disk-diffusion method
Qualitative
Uses antibiotic-containing wafers or
disks
Used to determine the resistance or
sensitivity of aerobes or facultative
anaerobes to specific chemicals, which
can then be used by the clinician for
treatment of patients with bacterial
infections
Greater drug efficacy yields a larger
microbe-free zones

PRINCIPLE

KIRBY
BAUE
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TEST

Mueller-Hinton agar
is thoroughly tested for its composition and its
pH level.
ensures that zones of inhibitions can be
reproduced from the same organism, does not
inhibit sulfonamides.
must also only be 4mm deep. This further
ensures standardization and reproducibility.

Standard size of the inoculated organism

too small = LARGER zone of inhibition
too large = SMALLER zone of inhibition

PROCEDURE

KIRBY
BAUER
TEST

1. Swab a Mueller-Hinton plate

with each of the bacteria. Dip a
sterile swab into the broth and
express any excess moisture
by pressing the swab against
the side of the tube.

KIRBY BAUER TEST

PROCEDURE

KIRBY
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2. After completely swabbing the

plate, turn it 90 degrees and
repeat the swabbing process. Run
the swab around the
circumference of the plate before
discarding it in the discard bag.
3. Allow the surface to dry for about
5 minutes before placing
antibiotic disks on the agar.

KIRBY
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PROCEDURE

4. THE ANTIBIOTIC DISKS:

You are using individual antibiotic
dispensers.
Use a pair of forceps to remove an
antibiotic disc from the dispenser: the
forceps have to be sterile. Place the forceps
in alcohol, flame the forceps until they catch
on fire, let the flame go out.
Lightly touch each disc with your sterile
inoculating loop to make sure that it is in
good contact with the agar surface.
Incubate upside down and incubate at 37C .

KIRBY
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INTERPRETATION

1.

Place the metric ruler across the zone

of inhibition, at the widest diameter,
and measure from one edge of the
zone to the other edge. HOLDING THE
PLATE UP TO THE LIGHT MIGHT HELP.

2.

Use millimeter measurements. The

disc diameter will actually be part of
that number.

3.
4.

If there is NO zone at all, report it as 0.

Zone diameter is reported in
millimeters
0-10 mm = RESISTANT
11-20 mm = INTERMEDIATE
21mm = SUSCEPTIBLE

5.

Record the results

MINIMUM BACTERICIDAL CONCENTRATION TEST

MBC
TEST

Determines the lowest concentration at which

an antimicrobial agent will kill a particular
microorganism.
useful for comparing the germ-killing activity of
several antimicrobial agents at once.
Mueller Hinton Broth is the recommended broth
for this method.
Minimum turnaround time
48 hours(nonfastidious)
greater than or equal to 96 hours (fastidious)

PROCEDURE

MBC
TEST

1. From each MIC broth tube without visible

growth, aliquot a 100 ml volume of the
broth onto Mueller-Hinton agar and
spread across the entire surface of the
plate.
2. Record the dilution of the subcultured
MIC tube on each plate and incubate at
35oC until the next lab session.
3. Following overnight incubation, examine
the MBC plates for colony growth or lack
of growth for each dilution subcultured.