Improved methods for detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

In order to assess the performance of two detection methods, a set of 93 re cent clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, including a large number o f strains that demonstrated low-level methicillin-resistance were evaluated using the MRSA-Screen (Denka Seiken, Japan), a commercial latex agglutinat ion test to detect penicillin-binding protein 2' (PBP2'), and a polymerase chain reaction assay using the LightCycler Instrument (Roche Diagnostics, S witzerland). The results show that the latex agglutination test is highly s ensitive if performed after induction by cefoxitin. Inconclusive results ca n be rapidly confirmed on the same day by real-time polymerase chain reacti on used to detect: mecA and femA genes.