EVALUATION OF THE E-TEST FOR ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY TESTING OF PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA ISOLATES FROM PATIENTS WITH LONG-TERM BLADDER CATHETERIZATION

The E test was evaluated in comparison with reference agar methods (Na tional Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards) for the susceptibi lity testing of 248 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from bladder-cathe terized patients against nine antibiotics. The E-test MICs correlated well with those determined by the agar dilution and disk diffusion ref erence methods (88 and 92.5% within 1 log(2) dilution step, respective ly), confirming that the E test is a reliable method for the determina tion of MICs of antibiotics for catheterization-associated P. aerugino sa isolates.