This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Birnbaum, D Articles by Chow, A W Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Birnbaum, D Articles by Chow, A W

Efficacy of microbial identification system for epidemiologic typing of coagulase-negative staphylococci.

Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

ABSTRACT

The lack of an adequate typing system hampers our understanding of the epidemiology of infections caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). CoNS have become recognized as important nosocomial pathogens and the principal cause of infections associated with invasive devices. Sensitive, specific, and convenient methods are needed to evaluate whether implementing infection control guidelines reduces the risk of nosocomial infections from CoNS and other pathogens. The Microbial Identification System (MIDI) (Microbial ID Inc., Newark, Del.), a semiautomated system for fatty acid methyl ester analysis, shows considerable promise for clinical and epidemiologic applications. Its predictive accuracy and reliability were tested by using epidemiologically related and replicated CoNS isolates as well as CoNS from epidemiologically unrelated clinical infections, which were obtained from five established hospital culture collections in diverse geographic locations. Two hundred isolates were fully characterized in 5 days by one person using MIDI, and the results were similar to those produced by more expensive and time-consuming conventional typing methods. MIDI appears to be a useful screening tool that could be used before more expensive and labor-intensive molecular methods. It offers important advantages to hospital epidemiologists and clinical microbiologists who must identify and type CoNS isolates.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Ben-Ami, R., Navon-Venezia, S., Schwartz, D., Carmeli, Y. (2003). Infection of a Ventriculoatrial Shunt with Phenotypically Variable Staphylococcus epidermidis Masquerading as Polymicrobial Bacteremia Due to Various Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci and Kocuria varians. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 2444-2447 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kwok, A. Y. C., Chow, A. W. (2003). Phylogenetic study of Staphylococcus and Macrococcus species based on partial hsp60 gene sequences. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 53: 87-92 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kellogg, J. A., Bankert, D. A., Chaturvedi, V. (1999). Variation in Microbial Identification System Accuracy for Yeast Identification Depending on Commercial Source of Sabouraud Dextrose Agar. J. Clin. Microbiol. 37: 2080-2083 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Steele, M., McNab, B., Fruhner, L., DeGrandis, S., Woodward, D., Odumeru, J. A. (1998). Epidemiological Typing of Campylobacter Isolates from Meat Processing Plants by Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis, Fatty Acid Profile Typing, Serotyping, and Biotyping. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 2346-2349 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kellogg, J. A., Bankert, D. A., Chaturvedi, V. (1998). Limitations of the Current Microbial Identification System for Identification of Clinical Yeast Isolates. J. Clin. Microbiol. 36: 1197-1200 [Abstract] [Full Text]