12th International Symposium on Bioluminescence & Chemiluminescence

Symposium abstracts:

Rapid detection of MRSA from clinical samples using magnetic separation and AK bioluminescence

Price, Rachel L., Squirrell, David J., White, Peter J., Green, Johnathan C.D.

Dstl Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0JQ, UK

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is responsible for a significant proportion of hospital-acquired infections. Conventional microbiological analysis for detecting this pathogen involves culture tests on swabs from patients and requires 2-4 days to produce definitive results. We describe here a rapid method that enables MRSA detection from swabs within 4 hours. Bacteria from patient swabs were re-suspended in methicillin-containing broth and incubated at 37ºC for 3 hours. Staph. aureus-specific magnetic beads were then used to capture intact (i.e. antibiotic-resistant) cells and to transfer them for detection using adenylate kinase (AK) bioluminescence. Antibiotic-susceptible cells were lysed before the transfer step and antibiotic-resistant non-Staph. aureus cells were left behind. With the inclusion of a wash step for the beads, the assay could be completed in less than 4 hours. The assay, which lends itself to packaging in a "one-shot" format, was tested in a clinical laboratory.

This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in Luminescence: Copyright 2001 John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd (Wiley website)