In: Biology
Which of the following steps would be necessary to determine the most effective antibiotic for a bacterial infection using the Disk Diffusion Assay? Select three necessary steps and three unnecessary or incorrect steps, and explain why it is or is not necessary/correct.
Necessary steps:
1.- Collect a sample of bacteria from the infected patient.
This is important, because this is the only way we are going to obtain test results that will be useful for the specific patient, otherwise the results will be of no use
2.- Label the disks with the type of antibiotic you soaked them in.
Completely necessary to know which antibiotic is going to be discarded or used for prescription
3.- Cover the petri dishes while the bacteria grow.
In this way we protect the medium from getting contaminated
Unnecessary steps:
1.- Collect samples of bacteria from other patients who seem to have the same infection.
The susceptibility results obtained will be useful to treat the strains in the other patient, not in this original oen
2.- Leave the petri dishes uncovered while the bacteria grow.
Your medium will get contaminated and the results won't be useful
3.- Treat the bacterial culture with a disinfectant before spreading on the agar plate.
This will make impossible for the bacteria to grow on the medium, independently of their antibiotic susceptibility