Comparison of culture media for detecting methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase negative staphylococci.

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Abstract
The detection of methicillin resistance was examined in 51 strains of Staphylococcus aureus and 135 strains of coagulase negative staphylococci using Isosensitest, Diagnostic Sensitivity Test (DST), Mueller-Hinton (MH), Columbia, and Sensitest agars. MH agar with 5% added sodium chloride incubated at 35 degrees C was the most effective in detecting resistance in S aureus, and Columbia agar with 5% added sodium chloride incubated at 35 degrees C was most effective for coagulase negative staphylococci. For clinical purposes, a provisional report of sensitivity for S aureus could be issued after 18 hours; with coagulase negative staphylococci, only resistant strains could be reported at this time. For definitive results cultures must be examined after 40 hours of incubation.