RAPID METHODS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS WHEN BOTH HUMAN AND ANIMAL STAPHYLOCOCCI ARE TESTED - COMPARISON WITH A NEW IMMUNOENZYMATIC ASSAY

A new immunoenzymatic assay (IEA) for the identification of Staphyloco ccus aureus strains of both human and animal origin was compared with rapid commercial kits. The sensitivities and specificities of the comm ercial kits varied from 90.2 to 96% and 90.8 to 93.7%, respectively. T he IEA did not give any false-negative or false-positive results, whil e commercial kits gave high percentages of false-positive results amon g clumping factor-positive non-S. aureus strains. The IEA is particula rly useful for isolates for which identification is doubtful, for larg e-scale epidemiological studies, and for identifying isolates from ani mals as S. aureus.