What is the primary purpose of performing susceptibility testing on bacterial strains?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Let’s break down the question and each choice to see what susceptibility testing actually measures.
Option 1: 'To assess the virulence of the bacterial strain.' Virulence refers to how harmful a pathogen is, not how susceptible it is to antibiotics. Susceptibility testing does not quantify virulence factors like toxins or invasion capabilities. Therefore this is not the purpose.
Option 2: 'To determine the bacterial strain's ability to form biofilms.' Biofilm formation is a trait that can affect resistance, but standard susceptibility testing targets whether the organism is inhibited by specific drugs, not directly whether it forms biofilms. This option confuses a phenotypic trait with the main clinical test purpose.
Option 3: 'To identify the species of the bacterial strain.' Species identification is typically done by methods like MALDI-TOF, biochemical tests, or sequencing. While identification may accompany susceptibility testing, the primary aim of susceptibility testing itself is not species identification. So this is inaccurate.
Option 4: 'To determine if a bacterial strain is treatable with a specific antibiotic.' This is the core purpose of susceptibility testing: to assess whether a particular antibiotic inhibits or kills the organism, guiding effective therapy and helping avoid ineffective drugs. This is the correct framing of the test.
Option 5: 'To understand the genetic makeup of the bacterial strain.' Genetic analysis provides information on resistance genes and broader genomics, but routine susceptibility testing measures phenotypic response to antibiotics, not the full genetic profile. Thus this option misstates the test’s primary goal.
In summary, the only option that accurately captures the primary purpose is that susceptibility testing determines whether a bacterial strain is treatable with a specific antibiotic, guiding appropriate antimicrobial selection and stewardship.

BIOL 271 Case Study 2 Quiz

What is the primary purpose of performing susceptibility testing on bacterial strains?

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