Analysis of Borderline‐Resistant Strains of Methicillin‐Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Using Polymerase Chain Reaction
- 1 May 1992
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Microbiology and Immunology
- Vol. 36 (5) , 445-453
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1348-0421.1992.tb02043.x
Abstract
Identification of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by drug-susceptibility tests alone poses a serious problem, because a considerable number of clinical S. aureus isolates are borderline resistant to methicillin. To circumvent this problem, we have developed a quick and sensitive method of PCR amplification for the detection of mecA gene, which, coding for PBP2', is the specific genetic element of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This method made it possible to identify MRSA strains in a short time using as few as 30 cells as a starting material for template DNA. Using this method, we found that the strains of borderline methicillin-resistance could be accurately identified. We also found one S. aureus clinical strain, T3, which lacked mecA gene in spite of its resistance to methicillin.Keywords
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