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.
Boutiba-Ben Boubaker
I
I
Faculté de Médecine, Microbiologie, Laboratoire Résistance aux Antibiotiques, Tunis, Tunisia. ilhem.boutiba@rns.tn
Ben Abbes
R
R
Ben Abdallah
H
H
Mamlouk
K
K
Mahjoubi
F
F
Kammoun
A
A
Hammami
A
A
Ben Redjeb
S
S
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