Development of an in situ culture-free screening test for the rapid detection of Staphylococcus aureus within healthcare environments

摘要

We have developed a novel, selective fluorogenic assay, which obviates the need for time consuming culturing or genetic amplification, currently core to most hospital SA tests. Our test has proved itself to be rapid, presently giving a preliminary positive/ negative result within 30 minutes for bacterial concentrations commonly found on skin (＞ 102 CFU mL~(-1)). The testing methodology described within this paper is currently undergoing further biological screening within our labs and work is ongoing towards the development of a rapid point-of-care testkit.