Evaluation of different phenotypic methods for the detection of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of MRSA

Abstract

Background: Rapid and accurate detection of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important role of clinical microbiology laboratories to avoid treatment failure. The aim of this study was to compare conventional methods against the cefoxitin disc diffusion method to determine the best phenotypic method. Methods: Study was carried out in the Department of Microbiology, National Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Jaipur (India), between July 2016 – December 2016. The methods included were Oxacillin E-test MIC, Oxacillin screen agar, Oxacillin disk diffusion, Cefoxitin disk diffusion and CHROMagar- MRSA methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility performed as per CLSI guidelines.Results: Out of 142 isolates of S. aureus, fifty three (37.32%) strains of MRSA were isolated from clinical specimen. E-MIC test was selected as gold standard method. The sensitivity and specificity of Oxacillin screen agar and CHROMagar-MRSA were same 98.07% and 97.80%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of oxacillin disk diffusion were 94.23% and 98.89%. Fifty three strains of S. aureus were MRSA by cefoxitin disk diffusion method and Oxacillin Ezy MIC test. The sensitivity and specificity of cefoxitin disk diffusion method and Oxacillin Ezy MIC method was 100% and 100% respectively. All isolates including MRSA were susceptible to Vancomycin and Linezolid. Conclusions: All phenotypic methods had high sensitivity and specificity for detection of MRSA. However, cefoxitin disk diffusion method in comparison to other methods had higher sensitivity and specificity.