Analysis of typing methods for epidemiological surveillance of both methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus strains.

ABSTRACT: Sequence-based methods for typing Staphylococcus aureus, such as multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and spa typing, have increased interlaboratory reproducibility, portability, and speed in obtaining results, but pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), remains the method of choice in many laboratories due to the extensive experience with this methodology and the large body of data accumulated using the technique. Comparisons between typing methods have been overwhelmingly based on a qualitative assessment of the overall agreement of results and the relative discriminatory indexes. In this study, we quantitatively assess the congruence of the major typing methods for S. aureus, using a diverse collection of 198 S. aureus strains previously characterized by PFGE, spa typing, MLST, and, in th

SUBMITTER: Faria NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2224309 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature