Setting epidemiological cut-off values for bacteria isolated from aquatic animals: a toolbox for designing a 96-well plate for microdilution MIC assays

Abstract

A workshop was held at the EAFP meeting in Porto to initiate discussion on the design of studies that could generate the data needed to set epidemiological cut-off values appropriate for application to antimicrobial susceptibility data for bacteria isolated from aquatic animals. To set such cut-off values, consortia of at least five laboratories are needed. The work required from individual laboratories, although not a relatively large number, was the susceptibility testing of approximately 30 isolates of each species. What is essential is, however, that the activities of the laboratories, and the experimental protocols that they use, are coordinated. A major aim of this workshop was to encourage the formation of informal groups of laboratories that could form consortia and coordinate their activities to produce the data needed to generate cut-off values for various species that were of interest to them. All laboratories with an interest in the possibility of joining such a consortia were, and are still, invited to contact Sandrine Baron (Sandrine.BARON@anses.fr) who has agreed to facilitate this activity