Evaluation of a cefoxitin disk diffusion test for the routine detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Two oxacillin disk methods were compared with a cefoxitin disk diffusion test for detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), with PCR for mecA as the reference method. When tested with 115 MRSA and 350 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus isolates, the cefoxitin disk test (specificity 100%, sensitivity 96.5%) was superior to the oxacillin disk methods (specificity 99.1%, sensitivity 90.4%). Testing with both oxacillin and cefoxitin disks would give better sensitivity (100%) than the cefoxitin test alone, but at the expense of specificity (99.1%). The cefoxitin disk test required no special test conditions and would improve the reliability of routine tests for detection of MRSA.
Faculté de Médecine, Microbiologie, Laboratoire Résistance aux Antibiotiques, Tunis, Tunisia. ilhem.boutiba@rns.tn
I
I
Boutiba-Ben Boubaker
R
R
Ben Abbes
H
H
Ben Abdallah
K
K
Mamlouk
F
F
Mahjoubi
A
A
Kammoun
A
A
Hammami
S
S
Ben Redjeb
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002440:Cefoxitin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008712:Methicillin / Q000494:pharmacology; D016106:Methicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002440:Cefoxitin; D008712:Methicillin