title: Clinical evaluation of the Copan ESwab for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus detection and culture of wounds.
abstract: The screening for and diagnosis of bacteriological infections often involves the collection and transportation of swab samples. The Copan ESwab was compared with the dry cotton Copan swab for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening (n = 200 paired samples) and with the Amies agar gel swab (Copan) for the sampling of burn and orthopaedic wounds (n = 203 paired samples) in terms of Gram staining and bacterial recovery. Gram stains performed with ESwab liquid showed significantly more Gram-negative rods, streptococci, Gram-positive cocci, Gram-positive rods, polymorphonuclear cells, lymphocytes and red blood cells than Gram stains from dry swabs. Bacterial recovery was significantly higher with ESwab (p < 0.01, for both MRSA screening and wounds, quantitative/semi-quantitative method). This lead to a slightly higher detection rate of MRSA (128 vs. 124 MRSA-positive ESwabs and dry swabs, respectively, p = 0.50) and a higher detection rate of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. (44 isolates with ESwab vs. 29 with Amies gel swab, p = 0.001) and Enterococcus spp. (15 isolates with ESwab vs. 7 isolates with Amies gel swab, p = 0.005) with ESwab (quantitative method). We confirmed that ESwab has a high performance for Gram stains and a higher bacterial recovery than dry and Amies gel swabs when using clinical samples for MRSA screening and wound sampling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Diagnostic Sciences, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. veroniek.saegeman@uzleuven.be
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saegeman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flamaing
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Peetermans
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stuyck
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verhaegen
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*