title: Latex agglutination and hemagglutination tests for the rapid identification of methicillin sensitive and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
abstract: Ten latex agglutination (LA) and hemagglutination (HA) kits for the identification of Staphylococcus aureus were compared with reference methods for their reliability and performance. The ten commercial kits consisted of Accu-Staph, Bacto-Staph, Hemastaph, Staphaurex, Staph-Latex, Staphylochrome, Staphyloslide, Staph-Rapid, Sero-Stat and Veri-Staph. The conventional methods included slide coagulase test, tube coagulase test (4 hr, 24 hr), thermonuclease and growth on mannitol salt agar (MSA). A total of 583 clinical isolates of staphylococci were used and all the kits correlated well with the conventional methods (93.1-99.4% sensitivity) in their ability to identify both methicillin sensitive (MSSA) and methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Although all were rapid, easy to perform and simple to interpret, Staphaurex and Staphyloslide gave the best sensitivities and specificities.
authors.affiliation: King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Qadri
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Akhter
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Qadri
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods*; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic