[Evaluation of MicroScan Synergies plus Positive Combo 3 Panels for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus species].
BACKGROUND
Few studies have evaluated the performance of the recently introduced MicroScan Synergies plus Positive Combo 3 Panels (SIPC3) (Dade Behring Inc., USA). We evaluated the clinical efficacy of the panels in identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of Staphylococcus aureus and enterococci.


METHODS
To evaluate the panels' accuracy of identification, the results obtained using the test panels were compared with those obtained by using conventional biochemical tests in conjunction with VITEK 2 system (bio-Merieux, USA). In addition, the AST results obtained using the panels were compared with those obtained by performing CLSI broth microdilution.


RESULTS
The overall agreement between the approaches for the ID of S. aureus and enterococci was 100% and 96%, respectively. The categorical and essential agreements (CA and EA) for S. aureus were 98%, each. Very major errors (VME), major errors (ME), and minor error (mE) for S. aureus were 0.45%, 0.3%, and 4.2%, respectively. The majority of VMEs were for oxacillin (8.6%), penicillin (2.0%), erythromycin (7.9%), clindamycin (3.8%), and tetracycline (4.1%). For enterococci, the CA, EA, VME, ME, and mE were 88.8%, 93.7%, 4.4%, 0%, and 2.8%, respectively. The 80.5% (29/36) of Enterococcus faecium had concordant ID with the reference. Most of the categorical errors (3 VMEs and 14 mEs) were observed for quinupristin/dalfopristin (Synercid; Catalytica Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA).


CONCLUSIONS
The panels compared favorably with conventional methods for the ID and AST of S. aureus. However, we expected a better performance for ID of E. faecium and AST using Synercid.
Jung
Haiyoung
H
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Genetics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Nam Yong
NY
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002981:Clindamycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010068:Oxacillin / Q000494:pharmacology; D010406:Penicillins / Q000494:pharmacology; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000494:pharmacology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D010406:Penicillins; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D002981:Clindamycin; D004917:Erythromycin; D013752:Tetracycline; D010068:Oxacillin