This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Compernolle, V.
Right arrow Articles by Claeys, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Compernolle, V.
Right arrow Articles by Claeys, G.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2007, p. 154-158, Vol. 45, No. 1
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01115-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Combined Use of Pastorex Staph-Plus and Either of Two New Chromogenic Agars, MRSA ID and CHROMagar MRSA, for Detection of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus{triangledown}

Veerle Compernolle, Gerda Verschraegen, and Geert Claeys*

Department of Microbiology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium

Received 31 May 2006/ Returned for modification 25 August 2006/ Accepted 24 October 2006

We describe the search toward a fast and reliable strategy to detect and confirm the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in screening samples. First, we evaluated the sensitivities and specificities of oxacillin resistance screening agar (ORSA) with enrichment (tryptic soy broth [TSB] and ORSA [TSB-ORSA]) and without enrichment (ORSA), MRSA ID (MRSA_ID) plates, and CHROMagar MRSA (C_MRSA) plates, all of which were inoculated with equal volumes of a suspension made by emulsifying screening swabs. Whereas the sensitivities after 48 h were similar for all media tested (77% for MRSA_ID and ORSA; 73% for C_MRSA and ORSA after enrichment [TSB-ORSA]), the specificities of MRSA_ID (98% after 24 h and 94% after 48 h) and C_MRSA (98% after 24 h and 90% after 48 h) were superior to the specificities of ORSAs (92% after 24 h and 83% after 48 h) and TSB-ORSA (86% after 24 h and 81% after 48 h). Subsequently, the performance of the Pastorex Staph-Plus agglutination test with presumptive MRSA isolates taken directly from chromogenic agars (direct_Pastorex agglutination) was compared to that of the Pastorex Staph-Plus agglutination test with isolates from blood agar subcultures (conventional_Pastorex agglutination). When the direct_Pastorex agglutination test on MRSA_ID plates was combined with Gram staining, the direct_Pastorex agglutination test with samples from MRSA_ID plates was as reliable as the conventional_Pastorex agglutination test with samples from blood agar subcultures from MRSA_ID plates. In contrast, the direct_Pastorex agglutination test with samples from C_MRSA plates gave false-negative results. Finally, we calculated the processing times of the four different strategies, namely, (i) enrichment in TSB supplemented with NaCl, subsequent culture on ORSA, and the conventional_Pastorex agglutination test; (ii) direct inoculation of ORSA combined with conventional_Pastorex agglutination test; (iii) direct inoculation of MRSA_ID plates combined with Gram staining and the direct_Pastorex agglutination test; and (iv) direct inoculation of C_MRSA plates combined with Gram staining and the direct_Pastorex agglutination test. We concluded that the use of MRSA_ID in combination with Gram staining and the direct_Pastorex agglutination test is faster and more specific than the other strategies tested.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Phone: 32 9 240 36 45. Fax: 32 9 240 49 85. E-mail: Geert.claeys{at}ugent.be.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 November 2006.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2007, p. 154-158, Vol. 45, No. 1
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01115-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Paule, S. M., Mehta, M., Hacek, D. M., Gonzalzles, T.-M., Robicsek, A., Peterson, L. R. (2009). Chromogenic Media vs Real-Time PCR for Nasal Surveillance of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Impact on Detection of MRSA-Positive Persons. Am J Clin Pathol 131: 532-539 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Malhotra-Kumar, S., Haccuria, K., Michiels, M., Ieven, M., Poyart, C., Hryniewicz, W., Goossens, H., on behalf of the MOSAR WP2 Study Team, (2008). Current Trends in Rapid Diagnostics for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Glycopeptide-Resistant Enterococcus Species. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 1577-1587 [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»