"detection of bacterial, methicillin resistance, and β-lactamase genes found in wound swabs by multiplex polymerase chain reaction"

coagulase-positive and coagulase negative, methicillin-resistant staphylococci are major causes of serious nosocomial infections and it is very important to have a reliable test to detect these bacteria. a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mpcr) was used on 100 clinical samples for simultaneous amplification of the universal bacterial, mec-a encoding the penicillin binding protein 2a, which is associated with staphylococcal methicillin resistance and tem-1 encoding the β-lactamase, which accounts for the majority of all cases of the plasmid β-lactamase resistance worldwide. out of 100 wound swabs tested, 99% with universal primers, 26% with tem-1 primers and 6% with mec-a primers were positive. dot blot digoxigenin hybridization on the 30 samples was carried out to confirm identified bacteria with specific bacterial probes. out of 100 wound swabs, 38% were positive with staphylococcus aureus probe, 23% were positive with enteric bacteria probe, 7% were positive with streptococcus agalactia probe and 1% were positive with haemophilus influenza probe. the mpcr method used in this study, was designed to be incorporated into the workflow of the clinical microbiology laboratory and allows for the identification of intrinsic resistance in a timely and reliable manner.