About CLSIâs Subcommittee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) The goal of the Subcommittee on AST is to provide useful information to enable laboratories to assist the clinician in selecting appropriate antimicrobial therapy for the best patient care.
Respiratory alkalosis. Respiratory alkalosis develops when rapid, deep breathing (hyperventilation) causes too much carbon dioxide to be expelled from the bloodstream. The most common cause of hyperventilation, and thus respiratory alkalosis, is anxiety. Other causes of hyperventilation and consequent respiratory alkalosis include pain, low levels of oxygen in the blood, fever, and aspirin overdose (which can also cause metabolic acidosis).
1 Those that affect respiration and cause changes in CO 2 concentration are called respiratory acidosis (low pH) and respiratory alkalosis (high pH). 2  Respiratory acid-base disorders are commonly due to lung diseases or conditions that affect normal breathing.ny disease or condition that affects the lungs, kidneys, metabolism or breathing has the potential to cause acidosis or alkalosis. The normal balance between acid and base can be visualized in Figure 1.