Question

What new methods are required to effectively assess the risk of resistance ?

Answer 1

Answer=

Methods required to effectively assess the risk of resistance are as follows:

Designing test is complicated because many different factors have to controlled.

results are often not reproducible,especially if the tests are carried out in real conditions outside the laboratory .

Then again,tests in the laboratory can be too rigid,time-consuming and not represent the real conditions found in practice.

samples of bacteria are often tested separately for resistance to antibiotics and to biocides but there are no set methods to determine resistance to both at the same time.The information available on the effectiveness of different biocides is inconsistent because of the wide range of testing methods used and because tests are not always carried out properly.There is an urgent need to design a standard method of measuring both biocide and antibiotic resistance in bacterial samples.

Bacteria are often present in the environment as biofilms and these play an important role in bacterial resistance.Despite this,most laboratories do not measure the efficacy of biocides on biofilms & there are no European standards for such tests.This is an important shortcoming because biofilms are ever-present and notoriously difficult to remove,even after intense cleaning.

The presence of biocides in the environment also increases the liklihood of developing resistance especially when the concentrations are too low to be effective.