Patent ID: 7897365

Claim:
A method for detecting the presence of at least one antibiotic in a test sample, whereby the at least one antibiotic includes a first antibiotic from a beta-lactam structural class and an antibiotic from another structural class or a second antibiotic from a beta-lactam structural class, the method comprising: a) combining the test sample with both a microbial culture and a microbial receptor, the culture comprising a microbial species susceptible to at least one member of the beta-lactam structural class and susceptible to at least one member of the additional antibiotic structural class or the second antibiotic from a beta-lactam structural class, the microbial receptor characterized by its sensitivity to the beta-lactam structural class, the microbial receptor having been extracted from a bacteria with sensitivity to the beta-lactam structural class, whereby contacting the susceptible microbial species with an antibiotic to which the culture is susceptible causes growth inhibition in the culture; b) growing the culture; and c) determining an amount of culture growth, wherein a lack of culture growth reflects a presence of an antibiotic and wherein the microbial receptor selectively reduces test sensitivity to the first antibiotic beta-lactam structural class without substantially reducing test sensitivity to the antibiotic from another structural class or the second antibiotic from a beta-lactam structural class.