[Evaluation of the impact of different lengths of pre-enrichment in a nutritive broth and prolonged incubation of MRSA-ID, a chromogenic agar medium, on its performances for identifying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in screening samples]

Abstract

MRSA-carrier screening is recommended to prevent MRSA dissemination in hospitals. Rapid and specific detection of MRSA in the laboratory is a key element in enabling control measures. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of different lengths of pre-incubation in a nutritive broth and prolonged incubation of MRSA-ID, a chromogenic agar medium, on its performances for identifying MRSA in screening samples. According to our results, short-length pre-enrichments only provided a weak increase of sensitivity as compared to the absence of pre-enrichment. On the contrary, the sensitivity increase provided by an overnight pre-enrichment was significant. The prolongation of incubation in the chromogenic agar medium (48 hours instead of 24 hours) did not provide any significant increase of sensitivity but was associated with a strong and significant loss of specificity. Therefore, it seems relevant to reject prolonged incubation of selective agar media and to make a choice between the absence of pre-enrichment (faster results) and an overnight pre-enrichment (higher sensitivity), according to local epidemiology and local practices implemented for prevention.