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CINCINNATI, Ohio — Medical laboratories bought fewer diagnostic test kits and related products from Meridian Bioscience Inc. during the first three months of the year.

To blame? A weak global economy, a weak flu season and too many kits already on inventory shelves. Meridian Bioscience had record sales in the quarter ended Dec. 31.

As a result, sales for the maker of test kits for respiratory, gastrointestinal, viral and parasitic diseases fell 8 percent to $33.3 million in the quarter ended March 31 from a year ago. The just-ended quarter is Meridian’s fiscal second quarter.

Earnings of the Cincinnati, Ohio, life sciences company fell only 1 percent to $7.3 million, or 18 cents a diluted share, from the year-ago quarter, thanks to higher profit margins on products that did sell, said William Motto, executive chairman, in his company’s earnings release.

Excluding tests for upper respiratory illnesses like the flu, sales of diagnostic products in the United States grew 9 percent from a year ago, said John Kraeutler, Meridian’s chief executive, in the release.

Sales of tests for C. difficile and H. pylori viruses continued to grow at double-digit rates, Kraeutler said. Meridian launched a new stool test in its E. coli product line during the recent quarter. But the company’s European business shrank because of market weakness and a weakening euro.

“Our intentions during these challenging economic times have not changed,” Kraeutler said in the release. “We believe that demand from our clinical lab customers has continued to be good, and that any inventory rebalancing concerns will work their way through the system.”

Meridian earned $15.3 million, or 38 cents a diluted share, in the six months ended March 31. That was up 4 percent from $14.8 million, or 37 cents a diluted share, in the year-ago period. Sales fell 4 percent to $67.6 million in that time.

The company lowered its earnings guidance for fiscal 2009, which ends Sept. 30, to between 77 cents and 81 cents a diluted share on sales of between $140 million and $144 million. That was down from earnings in the range of 86 cents and 90 cents a diluted share on sales of between $151 million and $156 million.

A consensus of securities analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected fiscal 2009 earnings per share of 86 cents on sales of $151.7 million, according to an Associated Press story published by Yahoo! Finance.

Meridian shares fell 17 cents to $15.43 Friday on the NASDAQ Stock Market.