Evaluation of the MicroScan system for identification of staphylococci

Conventional biochemical tests were compared with reactions in a multiple t est system, MicroScan Walkaway (Dade Diagnostic Inc. MicroScan Divison, Wes t Sacramento, California) in conjugation with the Combo Pos ID Panels (Dade Diagnostic Inc. MicroScan Divison, West Sacramento, California), in order to evaluate the accuracy for the identification of 99 clinical isolates of Staphylococcus spp. and five reference strains. False-negative or positive reactions were detected from VOGES-PROSKAUER, urease and mannose tests. A g ood correlation was found among the two identification systems for the ferm entation of trehalose, lactose, raffinose, as well as for arginine dyhydrol ase, esculin hydrolisis and nitrate reduction. From the results of the present study, it is concluded that the MicroScan W alkaway system is a reliable method for identification of staphylococci (94 .23%), although 8.2% could be identified to the species level only after us e of additional test.