Clinical effectiveness of rapid tests for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) in hospitalized patients: a systematic review

BMC Infectious Diseases

Research Article

Stella Chen¹  Karen Cimon¹  Sarah McGill¹  Julie Polisena¹  Kevin Forward²  Michael Gardam³ 

[1] Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada;Division of Microbiology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;Infection Prevention and Control, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;

关键词: Polymerase Chain Reaction;    Turnaround Time;    Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus;    Universal Screening;    Polymerase Chain Reaction Test;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2334-11-336

 received in 2011-05-25, accepted in 2011-12-12,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMethicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are often resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics. The research objectives of this systematic review were to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) versus chromogenic agar for MRSA screening, and PCR versus no screening for several clinical outcomes, including MRSA colonization and infection rates.MethodsAn electronic literature search was conducted on studies evaluating polymerase chain reaction techniques and methicillin (also spelled meticillin) resistant Staphylococcus aureus that were published from 1993 onwards using Medline, Medline In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, BIOSIS Previews, and EMBASE. Due to the presence of heterogeneity in the selected studies, the clinical findings of individual studies were described.ResultsNine studies that compared screening for MRSA using PCR versus screening using chromogenic agar in a hospital setting, and two studies that compared screening using PCR with no or targeted screening were identified. Some studies found lower MRSA colonization and acquisition, infection, and transmission rates in screening with PCR versus screening with chromogenic agar, and the turnaround time for screening test results was lower for PCR. One study reported a lower number of unnecessary isolation days with screening using PCR versus screening with chromogenic agar, but the proportion of patients isolated was similar between both groups. The turnaround time for test results and number of isolation days were lower for PCR versus chromogenic agar for MRSA screening.ConclusionsThe use of PCR for MRSA screening demonstrated a lower turnaround time and number of isolation days compared with chromogenic agar. Given the mixed quality and number of studies (11 studies), gaps remain in the published literature and the evidence remains insufficient. In addition to screening, factors such as the number of contacts between healthcare workers and patients, number of patients attended by one healthcare worker per day, probability of colonization among healthcare workers, and MRSA status of hospital shared equipment and hospital environment must be considered to control the transmission of MRSA in a hospital setting.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Polisena et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011