Progress in antibiotic susceptibility tests: a comparative review with special emphasis on microfluidic methods

Antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) is an umbrella term for techniques to determine the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major threat to public health and a directed therapy based on accurate AST results is paramount in resistance control. Here we have briefly covered the progress of conventional, molecular, and automated AST tools and their limitations. Various aspects of microfluidic AST such as optical, electrochemical, colorimetric, and mechanical methods have been critically reviewed. We also address the future requirements of the microfluidic devices for AST. Cumulatively, we have outlined the overview of AST that can help to expand and improve the existing techniques and emphasize that microfluidics could be the future of AST and introduction of microtechnologies in AST will be extremely advantageous, especially for point-of-care testing.