PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Hussain, Zafar AU - Stoakes, Luba AU - Massey, Viki AU - Diagre, Deb AU - Fitzgerald, Viivi AU - El Sayed, Sameer AU - Lannigan, Robert TI - Correlation of Oxacillin MIC with <em>mecA</em>Gene Carriage in Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci DP - 2000 Feb 01 TA - Journal of Clinical Microbiology PG - 752--754 VI - 38 IP - 2 4099 - http://jcm.asm.org/content/38/2/752.short 4100 - http://jcm.asm.org/content/38/2/752.full SO - J. Clin. Microbiol.2000 Feb 01; 38 AB - The National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards has recently changed the oxacillin breakpoint from ≥4 mg/liter to ≥0.5 mg/liter to detect methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) because the previous breakpoint lacked sensitivity. To determine the correlation between the new oxacillin breakpoint and the presence of themecA gene, 493 CoNS of 11 species were tested. The presence of the mecA gene was determined by PCR, and oxacillin susceptibility was determined by the agar dilution method with Mueller-Hinton agar containing 2% NaCl and oxacillin (0.125 to 4.0 mg/liter). The new breakpoint correctly classified all CoNS strains with mecA as methicillin resistant and strains ofStaphylococcus epidermidis, S. haemolyticus, and S. hominiswithout mecA as methicillin susceptible. The breakpoint of ≥0.5 mg/liter was not specific for S. cohnii, S. lugdunensis, S. saprophyticus, S. warneri, and S. xylosus, in that it categorized 70 of 74 strains of these species withoutmecA (94.6%) as methicillin resistant. The results of this study indicate that the new oxacillin breakpoint accurately identifies strains of CoNS with mecAbut is not specific for strains of certain species of CoNS withoutmecA.