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.