title: Comparison of six rapid agglutination tests for the identification of Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains.
abstract: Six rapid agglutination tests for the identification of Staphylococcus aureus were evaluated by testing 416 strains of staphylococci. The sensitivities and specificities of the tests were as follows: Staphyloslide, 97.7% and 99.3% respectively; Prolex Staph Latex, 96.9% and 93.6%; Staphaurex, 95.4% and 94.2%; Staphaurex Plus, 100% and 93.4%; Slidex Staph Plus, 98.9% and 99.3%; and Staphytect Plus, 99.6% and 88.2%. The three tests utilizing latex particles coated with staphylococcal capsular antibodies were better able to identify methicillin-resistant S. aureus, but only Staphyloslide and Slidex Staph Plus had adequate specificity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McKinnon
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Louie
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Louie
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Simor
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods*; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic