December 5, 2007 - Cepheid said yesterday it released Xpert MRSA/SA-Blood Cultures and Xpert MRSA/SA-Skin and Soft Tissue Infection (SSTI) tests in Europe designed to enable simultaneous rapid detection of two leading causes of hospital and community acquired infections - Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Staphylococcus aureus.
The tests work directly from blood cultures and soft tissue infection samples. Both the Xpert MRSA/SA-SSTI and Xpert MRSA/SA-BC products deliver results in about 50 minutes, enabling healthcare professionals to rapidly determine the presence or absence of MRSA and SA with a single test. The company says both products employ a multiplex molecular protocol for potentially avoiding clinical false-positive MRSA results. While SA infections are generally treatable with common antibiotics, MRSA is resistant to numerous penicillin and cephalosporin antibiotics.
"Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of bloodstream infection, associated with substantial mortality and healthcare cost. Its impact may be more severe in cases of infection caused by methicillin-resistant strains, which are more difficult to treat,” said Professor Marc Struelens of the Catholic University Hospital, Brussels and head of the Belgian Staphylococcal Reference Laboratory. “By analyzing positive blood cultures, we found the Xpert MRSA/SA test to be very reliable for rapid DNA-based detection and identification of S. aureus and MRSA bacteremia.”
The GeneXpert System is a closed, self-contained, fully integrated and automated platform the company says is a shift in the automation of molecular analysis, producing accurate results in a timely manner with minimal risk of contamination. The GeneXpert System is the only system to combine on-board sample preparation with real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification and detection functions for fully integrated and automated nucleic acid analysis. The system is designed to purify, concentrate, detect and identify targeted nucleic acid sequences thereby delivering answers directly from unprocessed samples.
For more information: www.cepheid.com