HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (Papers in Press[PDF]) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Poppert, S. Articles by Essig, A. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Poppert, S. Articles by Essig, A. Agricola Articles by Poppert, S. Articles by Essig, A.

Accelerated Identification of Staphylococcus aureus from Blood Cultures by a Modified Fluorescence in situ Hybridisation (FISH) procedure

¹ Bernhard Nocht Institut;

² Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Ulm, Germany;

³ Institute of Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hygiene, University of Rostock, Germany

⁴ E-mail: poppert{at}bni-hamburg.de

Received August 26, 2009
Accepted September 24, 2009

We evaluated fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) for rapid identification of Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci directly from blood cultures. Initially 360 blood cultures containing Gram-positive cocci were investigated by a previously described microwave-FISH procedure. 44 of 49 (89.7%) S. aureus and 298 of 299 (99.7%) coagulase-negative staphylococci were correctly identified. Because FISH proved useful and reliable, but handling was found inconvenient, the method was modified by employing a recently developed slide chamber. The required time was thereby reduced from one hour to half an hour. The simplified execution allowed integration of the method into the workflow of a routine laboratory without difficulty. By identifying 37 of 37 (100%) S. aureus and 169 of 172 (98.2%) coagulase- negative staphylococci directly from blood cultures the modified method proved highly reliable.