Comparison of five tests for identification of Staphylococcus aureus from clinical samples

A. D. Luijendijk, Alex Van Belkum, Henri Verbrugh, Jan Kluytmans*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Five different laboratory tests for the identification of Staphylococcus aureus were compared. Analyses of 271 presumptive S. aureus strains, supplemented with 59 well-defined methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates, were performed. Only the Staphaurex Plus (Murex Diagnostics, Dartford, United Kingdom) and the Pastorex Staphplus (Sanofi, Marnes-La- Coquette, France) tests displayed 100% sensitivity. The observed difference with the free-coagulase test (Bacto coagulase plasma; Difco, Detroit, Mich.), a bound-coagulase (clumping factor) test, and the former Staphaurex test (Murex Diagnostics) was caused mainly by the inability of these three tests to identify some MRSA strains correctly. Among Polish MRSA isolates included in the analysis, a group of free-coagulase-negative S. aureus strains was detected. Genetic typing by random amplification of polymorphic DNA revealed that the strains showing aberrant behavior when the different test results were compared belonged to a limited number of S. aureus clones.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2267-2269
Number of pages3
JournalJournal of Clinical Microbiology
Volume34
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 1996
Externally publishedYes

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