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Updated: Jul 15, 2025
Multiplex PCR Assay for Typing of Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome Mec Types I to V in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Published on: September 5, 2013
[Evaluation of two phenotypic techniques and a commercial multiplex molecular panel for the detection of different
N Hernando Parreño1, A Sampere Martínez
1Noelia Hernando Parreño, Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario N. S. de Candelaria, 38010 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. noeliahernando@hotmail.com.
Objective:
The prevalence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales has increased in recent years and is considered an important public health problem.
Methods:
A total of 106 clinical samples were analyzed by different carbapenemase detection techniques: inhibition discs (ID), immunochromatographic test (ICT) and a genotypic method, comparing them with a multiplex RT-PCR as a reference method.
Results:
Overall, all 3 techniques exceeded 90% sensitivity, although with differences in the performance of some of them by carbapenemase type. DI had low specificity (62%) for OXA-48, while with TIC the sensitivity for NDM-type metallo-beta-lactamase (93%) was slightly lower than for OXA-48 (95%). The best results were obtained with the genotypic technique (100% overall performance).
Conclusions:
Despite the lower sensitivity of TICs (especially in NDM carbapenemases) compared to molecular techniques, with the modification of the protocol we managed to increase this sensitivity and, together with the lower price, simplicity and speed, it makes this technique a good screening option.
