Journal article

Impact of results of a rapid Staphylococcus aureus diagnostic test on prescribing of antibiotics for patients with clustered gram-positive cocci in blood cultures

J Davies, CL Gordon, SYC Tong, RW Baird, JS Davis

Journal of Clinical Microbiology | AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY | Published : 2012

Abstract

In tropical northern Australia, approximately 20% of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia is caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We prospectively evaluated the impact on clinician antibiotic prescribing of the results obtained from performing the GeneXpert MRSA/SA test on 151 positive blood cultures with clustered Gram-positive cocci. The GeneXpert result led to earlier appropriate prescription of vancomycin for 54% of patients with MRSA; 25% of patients avoided vancomycin, and 16% of patients had all antibiotics ceased. Copyright © 2012, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)


Funding Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a government research grant from the Northern Territory Research and Innovation Board. J.S.D. (grant 1013411) and S.Y.C.T. (grant 508829) are Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) postdoctoral training fellows.