Abstract

CHROM agar Staphylococcus aureus and Oxacillin Resistant Screening Agar Base (ORSAB) media with oxacillin were evaluated for the screening of Methicillin Resistant Saphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Among 190 samples, totally 126 confirmed Staphylococcus aureus strains were used for screening of MRSA used CHROM agar and ORSAB media were compared with the other MRSA screening media like Baird Park agar (BPA) with ciprofloxacin, Mannitol salt agar (MSA) with oxacillin, Blood agar (BA) with oxacillin and Muller Hinton agar (MHA) with oxacillin.  Totally 54 MRSA strains were confirmed using PCR, among that 83% and 92% of the MRSA stains were isolated as mauve colonies on CHROM agar and blue colonies on ORSAB medium in 24 hrs incubation, compare with 64%, 61%, 50%, and 42% of the strains that were isolated on BPA, MSA, BA and MHA respectively. After 48 hrs of incubation 100%, 98%, 77%, 77%, 72% and 68% of the MRSA strains were isolated on CHROM agar, ORSAB, BPA, MSA, BA and MHA respectively. CHROM agar Staphylococcus aureus and ORSAB agar proved to be more sensitivity and specificity than other MRSA selective media.  These provide an alternative for the detection of MRSA in clinical laboratories, especially when PCR is unavailable.    

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