Clinical evaluation of Oxoid Brilliance MRSA Agar in comparison with bioMérieux MRSA ID medium for detection of livestock-associated meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Oxoid Brilliance MRSA Agar and bioMérieux MRSA ID medium were evaluated for their ability to identify meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in clinical samples. Nasal and throat samples (n5629) were taken from veterinarians and their household members. The sensitivities of Brilliance MRSA Agar and MRSA ID medium after 20 h of incubation were 63.6 and 64.5 %, and the specificities were 94.1 and 99.4 %, respectively. After an enrichment step, the sensitivities increased to 96.3 and 97.2 %, but the specificities decreased to 88.7 and 98.5 %, respectively. Brilliance MRSA Agar and MRSA ID medium are both sensitive methods for the screening of MRSA in combination with broth enrichment, but positive results require confirmation.