title: Significantly improved performance of a multitarget assay over a commercial SCCmec-based assay for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening: applicability for clinical laboratories.
abstract: Detection of the SCCmec gene is a common strategy for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening assays. However, if SCCmec is used alone, it may not be specific for detecting MRSA. Herein, we describe an in-house MSRA PCR-based screening assay involving detection of three targets (nuc, coa, and mecA). The assay is suitable for a wide range of real-time PCR platforms used in clinical microbiological laboratories. Performance characteristics of the in-house assay were significantly improved compared with the commercial assay, leading to an increase of positive predictive value by 40%. Compared with the bacterial culture, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the in-house PCR assay were 100% (95% CI >83.2%), 99.2% (95% CI = 98.2% to 99.8%), 80% (95% CI = 59.3% to 93.2%), and 100% (95% CI >99.2%), respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Medicine, SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ibrukner@jgh.mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Brukner
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oughton
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giannakakis
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kerzner
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dascal
mesh_terms: D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic