Table 6 Examples of how to consider results depending on ATBR outcome, measurement method and expression of results
How to consider results | Culture-dependent method: ARB | Culture-independent method: ARG and MGE |
|---|---|---|
Qualitative | ATBR phenotypes of bacterial isolates Diameter of inhibition zones Minimal inhibitory concentrations | Presence (+) or absence (−) Gel electrophoresis of PCR product |
Partially quantitative | Number of resistant isolates Frequency/Proportion of resistant isolates in total isolates tested (%) | Frequency of gene detection in bacterial isolates or in environmental samples (%) Number of reads in metagenomics analysis |
Fully quantitative | Concentration of resistant isolates in environmental samples (e.g., CFU/g) Proportion of resistant isolates in total culturable bacterial population (%) | Absolute abundance of gene copies in environmental samples (e.g., copies/g) Relative abundance of gene copies in total microbial biomass (e.g., copies/16S rRNA copies) |