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Rapid, Culture-Free Detection of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Rapid, Culture-Free Detection of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

Elliot L Burghardt, Katie S Flenker, Karen C Clark, Jeff Miguel, Dilek Ince, Patricia Winokur, Bradley Ford and James O McNamara II
PloS one, Vol.11(6), pp.e0157234-e0157234
2016
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157234
PMCID: PMC4909304
PMID: 27305148
url
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157234View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

S. aureus bacteremia (SAB) is a common condition with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Current methods used to diagnose SAB take at least a day, and often longer. Patients with suspected bacteremia must therefore be empirically treated, often unnecessarily, while assay results are pending. In this proof-of-concept study, we describe an inexpensive assay that detects SAB via the detection of micrococcal nuclease (an enzyme secreted by S. aureus) in patient plasma samples in less than three hours. In total, 17 patient plasma samples from culture-confirmed S. aureus bacteremic individuals were tested. 16 of these yielded greater nuclease assay signals than samples from uninfected controls or individuals with non-S. aureus bacteremia. These results suggest that a nuclease-detecting assay may enable the rapid and inexpensive diagnosis of SAB, which is expected to substantially reduce the mortality and morbidity that result from this condition.
Micrococcal Nuclease - blood Reproducibility of Results Staphylococcus aureus - enzymology Staphylococcus aureus - physiology Humans Enzyme Assays - methods Bacteremia - diagnosis Bacteremia - microbiology Staphylococcal Infections - diagnosis Blood Culture - methods Time Factors Micrococcal Nuclease - metabolism Sensitivity and Specificity Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology Staphylococcal Infections - blood

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