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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Identification of Staphylococcus aureus: DNase and Mannitol salt agar improve the efficiency of the tube coagulase test
Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials, Volume 9, Article 23, Year 2010
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Description
Background: The ideal identification of Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates requires a battery of tests and this is costly in resource limited settings. In many developing countries, the tube coagulase test is usually confirmatory for S. aureus and is routinely done using either human or sheep plasma. This study evaluated Mannitol salt agar and the deoxyribonuclease (DNase) test for improving the efficiency of the tube coagulase test in resource limited settings. The efficiency of human and sheep plasma with tube coagulase tests was also evaluated.Methods: One hundred and eighty Gram positive, Catalase positive cocci occurring in pairs, short chains or clusters were subjected to growth on Mannitol salt agar, deoxyribonuclease and tube coagulase tests. Of these, isolates that were positive for at least two of the three tests (n = 60) were used to evaluate the performance of the tube coagulase test for identification of S. aureus, using PCR-amplification of the nuc gene as a gold standard.Results: Human plasma was more sensitive than sheep plasma for the tube coagulase test (sensitivity of 91% vs. 81% respectively), but both plasmas had very low specificity (11% and 7% respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of the tube coagulase test (human plasma) was markedly improved when Mannitol salt agar and DNase were introduced as a tri-combination test for routine identification of Staphylococcus aureus (100% specificity and 75% sensitivity). The specificity and sensitivity of Mannitol salt agar/DNase/tube coagulase (sheep plasma) combination was 100% and 67%, respectively.Conclusion: The efficiency of the tube coagulase test can be markedly improved by sequel testing of the isolates with Mannitol salt agar, DNase and Tube coagulase. There is no single phenotypic test (including tube coagulase) that can guarantee reliable results in the identification of Staphylococcus aureus. © 2010 Kateete et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Kateete, David Patrick
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Kimani, Cyrus N.
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Katabazi, Fred Ashaba
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Okeng, Alfred
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Okee, Moses S.
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Nanteza, Ann
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University
Joloba, Moses Lutaakome
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Najjuka, Florence C.
Uganda, Kampala
Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Statistics
Citations: 314
Authors: 8
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1186/1476-0711-9-23
e-ISSN:
14760711
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics