Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus screening

The National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS), now called the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), recommends the cefoxitin disk screen test, the latex agglutination test for PBP2a, or a plate containing 6 μg/ml of oxacillin in Mueller-Hinton agar supplemented with NaCl (4% w/v; 0.68 mol/L) as alternative methods of testing for MRSA. For methods of inoculation, see CLSI Approved Standard M100-S15. According to Betsy McCaughey, founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, MRSA can be detected in asymptomatic patients by a blood test. Combined with extra sanitary measures for those in contact with infected patients, screening patients admitted to hospitals has been found effective in minimizing spread of MRSA in hospitals in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands.

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