MRSA test

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First Quick Test for Deadly, Drug-Resistant MRSA Bacterium

 

FDA has cleared for marketing the first rapid blood test for a deadly and

drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant

Staphylococcus aureus).

Methicillin is an antibiotic that has been used successfully to treat

infections from the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium. Over the years, the staph

bacterium mutated and spawned MRSA, a strain that is resistant to methicillin

and

has a higher rate of being fatal. The MRSA bacterium can cause potentially

life-threatening conditions such as blood stream infections, surgical site

infections, and pneumonia.

The blood test, called the BD GeneOhm StaphSR Assay, can identify whether a

blood sample contains genetic material from the MRSA bacterium or the more

common, less dangerous staph bacterium that can still be treated with

methicillin.

“Rather than waiting more than two days for test results, health care

personnel will be able to identify the source of a staph infection in only two

hours, allowing for more effective diagnosis and treatment,†said Daniel

Schultz,

M.D., Director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

The BD GeneOhm StaphSR test is manufactured by BD Diagnostics, a subsidiary

of BD of Franklin Lakes, N.J.

Who is at Risk for Staph Infections?

Staph infections occur most frequently among people in hospitals and health

care facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened

immune systems. But they can also occur in healthy people.

For More Information

FDA Press Release

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01768.html

 

David Molony

 

 

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