Antibiotic Sensitivity Discs – The Easiest Way To Find The Treatment For Microbial Infections

 You've probably heard of strep throat, the common cold, and ringworms. These are some common microbial infections.

Micro-organisms, as their name suggests, are organisms or living beings that are so small that they cannot be seen by naked eyes. Micro-organisms are ubiquitous, which means they are present everywhere in air, water, food, even on human skin or inside their guts. Not all microorganisms are harmful; some are beneficial too.

Microorganisms play a significant role in various industries and are even used to formulate antibiotics.

I know it may sound strange to you that microbes produce antibiotics because we use antibiotics to kill microbes.

Yes, antibiotics are compounds produced by microbial species to kill or inhibit the growth of other bacterial species when given at a specified concentration.

That’s why when you go to a doctor, he gives you an antibiotic or a set of antibiotics.

After administration, antibiotics can kill or inhibit microbes by destroying their cell walls, inhibiting cell wall synthesis, producing toxins, disturbing the metabolic pathway, and inhibiting replication, transcription, and translation of microbes.

Types Of Antibiotics

Bactericidal – These antibiotics kill the bacteria.

Bacteriostatic – These antibiotics suppress the growth of bacteria. They keep them in a stationary growth phase.

Antifungal/Fungicidal - An antifungal compound, also known as an antimycotic compound, is a pharmaceutical fungicide or fungistatic that is used to treat and prevent fungal infection.

A few of examples are;

Clindamycin – It is a type of antibiotic that is used to treat bacterial infections such as osteomyelitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, strep throat, pneumonia, middle ear infections, and endocarditis. It is also effective in the treatment of acne and some cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Clindamycin's main action is bacteriostatic. It has the potential to be bactericidal at higher concentrations. By inhibiting ribosomal translocations, it prevents bacterial protein synthesis.

Levofloxacin – It is a broad spectrum antibiotic. It is used to treat a number of bacterial infections, including acute bacterial sinusitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, chronic prostatitis, and some types of gastroenteritis. It prevents bacterial DNA replication by inhibiting the functions of DNA gyrase, topoisomerase IV, and type II topoisomerase.

Fluconazole – It is an antifungal medication that is used to treat various fungal infections such as candidiasis, blastomycosis, coccidiodomycosis, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, dermatophytosis, and pityriasis versicolor. It is also used to prevent candidiasis in people who are at high risk, such as after organ transplants, premature babies, and people with low blood neutrophil counts. Voriconazole –  It is an antifungal medication that is used to treat a number of fungal infections such as aspergillosis, candidiasis, coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, penicilliosis, and infections by Scedosporium or Fusarium. It exhibits an antifungal effect by inhibition of cytochrome P450.

The severity and type of infection vary from person to person. Similarly, the set of antibiotics too varies with the severity and type of infection.

An antibiotic sensitivity test is performed to check the sensitivity of an antimicrobial compound against microbial species.

Antibiotic Sensitivity Test

The sensitivity of microbes to antimicrobial compounds is determined by a disc diffusion test. In this method, the test organism is inoculated on Muller-Hinton agar plates. Muller-Hinton agar is a non-selective and non-differential medium. It allows better diffusion of the antibiotics than other culture media. Better diffusion is essential for true results. After inoculation, the antibiotic-impregnated discs are placed on these plates and incubated. Once the incubation is complete, a clear ring or zone of inhibition is visible around the antibiotic disc if the microbes are susceptible. By measuring and comparing the diameter of this zone of inhibition, microbes are classified as sensitive, intermediate, or resistant to the antibiotic.

TM Media As An Antibiotic Disc Manufacturer

When it comes to producing antibiotic discs, TM Media is one of the frontrunners. TM Media has over 70 antibiotic sensitivity discs as per CLSI concentration. Antibiotics such as Amikacin, Azithromycin, Cephalothin, Dodeca discs, and many more are available in three distinct packaging to meet your experimental needs: blister pack, cartridge, and vial.

The Dodeca Discs are a set of 12 antibiotic discs. These combinations allow for exploring several antibiotics simultaneously on a single plate. These are inert flat circular rings having 8 and 4 equidistant arms on the outer and inner periphery, respectively, with a 6 mm diameter disc at the end.

TM Media has ready-made antibiotic combinations for gram-positive organisms, gram-negative organisms, Pseudomonas specie, and UTI pathogenic microorganisms.

Apart from Antibiotic Sensitivity Discs, TM Media offers Culture Media, Ready-to-Use Culture Media, Lab Consumables, and other products that help the clinical and pharmaceutical industries in the fight against microbial infections.