Proposed changes in interpretive criteria and potency of ampicillin and ampicillin-sulbactam disks for susceptibility tests

Abstract

The accuracy of disk susceptibility tests with ampicillin and ampicillin-sulbactam was not improved when the amount of ampicillin was increased from 10 to 20 or 30 micrograms per disk. For testing members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, ampicillin disk tests correlated better with broth microdilution tests when the zone size standards were altered from greater than or equal to 14 greater than or equal to 17 mm for susceptible and from less than or equal to 11 to less than or equal to 13 mm for resistant. The same zone size breakpoints apply to tests with ampicillin-sulbactam disks (10/10 micrograms). When Staphylococcus, Branhamella, and Haemophilus species are tested against ampicillin, interpretive breakpoints are those separating beta-lactamase-producing strains from nonproducing strains. However, when ampicillin-sulbactam is tested, beta-lactamase enzymes are efficiently inhibited by the sulbactam component, and thus zone size standards for ampicillin do not apply: zone size standards for the Enterobacteriaceae can be used for testing the combination against Staphylococcus, Branhamella, and Haemophilus species. For Streptococcus, Enterococcus, and Listeria species, only ampicillin disks need be tested, since ampicillin-sulbactam disks give essentially identical results.