• ETEST®

ETEST®

Ready to use AST reagent strips to determine on-scale MICs

Clinicians often need more information than what primary AST can provide. Recognized around the world for their proven performance, ETEST® ready to use reagent strips determine on-scale MICs.

  • Determine the MIC of fastidious, slow-growing or nutritionally deficient micro-organisms
  • Confirm or detect low-level or new resistance mechanisms
  • Test new/non-routine antimicrobials
  • Fine-tune antimicrobial treatment
     

Discover the latest information and updates on the ETEST® portfolio here »

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ETEST® strips – the original gradient MIC strips – are considered a gold standard by many. It lives up to its reputation for reliably determining the on-scale Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of antibiotics, antifungal agents and anti-mycobacterial agents. ETEST® is a predefined, stable gradient of 15 antimicrobial concentrations on a plastic strip.  It is a simple, cost-effective tool that offers results when you need more precision than what automated or Kirby-Bauer antimicrobial susceptibility tests (AST) tests provide. ETEST® has an extensive range of over 100 antimicrobial references available in the following categories:  Antibiotics, Antifungals, Antimycobacterials, and Antimicrobial Resistance Detection (ARD).

 

Trusted leader

The first gradient MIC strip of its kind, ETEST® continues to impress. Its well documented performance has solidified its position as the trusted leader in the gradient MIC strip market. In fact, ETEST® is the gradient MIC strip gold standard:

  • >4,000 scientific references from 50 countries
  • covering >2.9 million strains
  • representing more than 20 million data points
     

Versatile - The method of choice to supplement your primary AST system

Most clinical laboratories use commercially available automated AST systems, such as bioMérieux’s VITEK®, or disk diffusion as a primary means of AST.  This is often adequate since most primary AST systems cover about 90% of AST needs. ETEST® is the method of choice to supplement the remaining ~10% of testing. It’s easy and economical to implement, and the strips’ stable antimicrobial concentration gradient carries an extended shelf-life of up to 5 years so you can keep rarely requested drugs on hand for rapid testing. Here’s how ETEST® fills the gaps beyond the breadth of primary AST usage:



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  • Test novel agents
  • Test difficult organisms that can’t be tested by primary AST methods (e.g. fastidious, anaerobic, primary AST limitations, etc.)
  • Detect low levels of resistance, hetero-resistance
  • Detect or confirm antimicrobial resistant phenotypes such as ESBL, MBL*, AmpC** or GISA/hGISA**
  • Determine extended-range MICs (covering a broad range beyond the breakpoints) to guide and refine treatment of critically ill patients (e.g. multidrug resistant infections). 

 

*ETEST MBL IP/IPI and MBL MP/MPI are Research Use Only (RUO) products in USA
** ETEST AmpC, KPC and GRD are Research Use Only (RUO) products
 
 

Extended-range MICs spanning 15 two-fold dilutions

ETEST® provides full-range MICs spanning 15 two-fold dilutions for concentrations that are ideal for refining patient treatment in instances where routine AST methods are limited in one of the following ways:

  • Provides S, I or R category results only
  • MIC results are off-scale (i.e. “<” or “>” results) and do not provide sufficient data for pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) targeted dosing considerations 

 

Easy-to-use MIC technique

It’s easy to extend your AST capabilities.

  1. Just apply the strip to an inoculated agar plate either manually or using the optional ETEST® instruments or accessories (e.g. Retro, Simplex, Nema, or MiniGrip It) and incubate.
  2. After incubation, an ellipse will appear that intersects the MIC reading scale (in µg/ml) where the concentration of the antibiotic tested inhibits microorganism growth.
  3. This value corresponds to the MIC that can be used to help chose optimum patient treatment.

 

ETEST® strips, equipment & accessories for susceptibility testing of bacteria and fungi

ETEST® Strips

  • Over 100 antimicrobials in the following categories:  Antibiotics, Antifungals, Antimycobacterials, and antimicrobial resistance detection (ARD)
  • Stable antimicrobial concentration gradient carries an extended shelf-life of up to 5 years allowing labs to keep rarely requested drugs on hand for rapid testing.
  • Easy to implement in most clinical laboratories.
  • Established susceptibility method that provides half dilution, on-scale MICs that can be used for PK-PD modeling and determination of MIC breakpoint quotients.
  • Allows labs to provide susceptibility data on most fastidious organisms that broth microdilution (BMD) based systems cannot provide.

ETEST® Equipment and Accessories

Save time and increase reproducibility with ETEST® equipment and accessories designed to simplify the daily use of ETEST®.

See the ETEST® equipment & accessories page for more detailed information.

ETEST® Equipment

Ref

Simplex C76
(ref. 559802)

Retro C80
(ref. 559803)

Nema C88
(ref. 559804)

 

 

ETEST® Accessories

Ref

ETEST® Measuring Sticks – 5 per package ref. 559904

ETEST® Clamps – 5 per package    ref. 559809

Mini Storage Box with Desiccant  ref. 559900

Midi Storage Box with Desiccant ref. 559901

Maxi Storage Box with Desiccant  ref. 559902

Storage Container ref. 501603

Applicator Tray ref. 559909

Mini Grip-It ref. 411200

Desiccant Capsules - 8 per package ref. 559709

 

Please contact your local bioMérieux representative for product availability.

"ETEST® is well established in our department. It has become a rapid and accurate tool for the determination of MICs in clinically relevant and urgent situations, e.g. for pathogens from blood cultures or CSF. It is also great to have in other clinical situations where it is important to know "how susceptible or resistant" the pathogen is. Also fro fungi, ETEST® is just fabulous. What a pain when MICs had to be determined by dilution methods!"

Professor Gaby E. Pfyffer, Chefmicrobiologin, Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Lucerne, Switzerland

 

"On behalf of all my patients, who have benefitted from ETEST® MIC testing, thank you! You've helped save the lives of patients with serious bacterial infections all over the world"

Dr Marc Romney, Medical Microbiologist, St. Paul's Hospital/Providence Health Care, Canada

 

"ETEST® makes possible a standard method for testing a myriad of different types of organisms, almost "one-stop shopping". This has allowed laboratories with varying levels of expertise to perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing with enormous positive impact on patient care.

Having this technology available even in resource-poor areas of the world, has contributed to the dtection of resitances where such knowledge was previously unattainable."

Dr. Ellen Jo Baron, Director, Standford Clinical Microbiology/Virology Laboratory, USA

 

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