Use of Vitek 2 antimicrobial susceptibility profile to identify mecC in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

The emergence of mecC methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses a diagnostic challenge for clinical microbiology laboratories. Using the Vitek 2 system, we tested a panel of 896 Staphylococcus aureus isolates and found that an oxacillinsensitive/cefoxitin-resistant profile had a sensitivity of 88.7% and a specificity of 99.5% for the identification of mecC MRSA isolates. The presence of the mecC gene, determined by bacterial whole-genome sequencing, was used as the gold standard. This profile could provide a zero-cost screening method for identification of mecC-positive MRSA strains. Copyright © 2013, American Society for Microbiology.