title: Comparison of two commercial PCR methods for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening in a tertiary care hospital.
abstract: Nose/throat-swabs from 1049 patients were screened for MRSA using CHROMagar MRSA, LightCycler Advanced MRSA, and Detect-Ready MRSA. Results were compared to the CHROMagar MRSA results, which was set as reference system. MRSA was detected in 3.05% of the patients with CHROMagar MRSA. LightCycler MRSA Advanced showed a higher clinical sensitivity (84.38%) than Detect-Ready MRSA (57.69%).The negative predictive values were high for both tests (>98%). The specificity and the positive predictive value were higher for the Detect-Ready MRSA test than for the LightCycler MRSA test (99.59% and 78.95% versus 98.52% and 64.29%). For routine screening LightCycler MRSA Advanced proved to be more efficient in our clinical setting as the clinical sensitivity was much higher than the sensitivity of Detect-Ready MRSA. CHROMagar MRSA detected more MRSA positive samples than both PCR methods, leading to the conclusion that the combination of PCR with cultural screening is still the most reliable way for the detection of MRSA. LightCycler MRSA Advanced was faster and needed less hands-on time. The advantage of Detect-Ready MRSA was the additional identification of methicillin-sensitive S.aureus (here in 34.63% of the samples), an information which can be possibly used for reducing the risk of postoperative infections in surgical patients in future.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Pathologie, Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Aylin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aydiner
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lüsebrink
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schildgen
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Winterfeld
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Knüver
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Messler
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schildgen
authors.forename: Frauke
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mattner
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic