RELIABILITY OF RAPID KITS FOR STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS IDENTIFICATION

We assessed the performance of four rapid Staphylococcus aureus detect ion kits: Slider Staph-Kit (bioMerieux, France), Avistaph (Omega Diagn ostics, England), Staphylase (Oxoid, Unipath, England), Pastorex Staph -Plus (Sanofi Diagnostics Pasteur, France). We tested 244 coagulase-po sitive (S aureus) and 127 coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) clini cal isolates. The sensitivity and negative predictive values were 96.6 % and 99%, respectively, for all kits. The specificity and positive pr edictive values, however, were different: 91% and 96%, respectively, f or Slider Staph-Kit; 67% and 86%, respectively, for Avistaph; and 94% and 97%, respectively for both Staphylase and Pastorex Staph-Plus. The percentage of uninterpretable results among kits for testing S aureus and CNS isolates, respectively were: 0 and 4.7% for Slider Staph-Kit; 4% and 7% for Avistaph; 4% and 7.8% for Staphylase; and 0 and 0.8% fo r Pastorex Staph-Plus. The reliability and ranking of these kits were 98% for Staph-Plus 98% for Staphylase, 97% for Slider Staph-Kit, and 8 9% for Avistaph. Although these kits are rapid and useful, they are su bject to variations and limitations in their performance, and caution is warranted when interpreting their results.