Letter to editor-colony morphology is insufficient to identify methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from stethoscopes.

摘要

Dr. Merlin and colleagues examined the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylo-coccus aureus (MRSA) contamination of stethoscopes. They found that 16 (32%) of 50 stethoscopes sampled were MRSA-positive, which was higher than previously reported.1 In this study, stethoscopes were swabbed and samples were inoculated onto mannitol salt agar (MSA) containing 4mug/mL oxacillin. Samples were considered to be MRSA-positive if at least one suspicious colony was found after 72 hours of incubation. However, biochemical tests (Gram stain, coagulase and catalase test as a minimum database) to positively identify these bacteria were not done, calling these findings into question.