CHROMagar™ MRSA Supplement

Five chromogenic media were evaluated and compared for the potential for MRSA detection: Brilliance MRSA agar (Oxoid), ChromID (bioMérieux), MRSASelect (Bio-Rad), CHROMagar (CHROMagar Microbiology), and BBL-CHROMagar (BD Diagnostics). Randomized samples were spiral plated on each medium and independently scored by five investigators for characteristic colonies at 24 and 48 h of incubation. For an arbitrary MRSA prevalence of 5% and based on patient sample evaluations, the positive predictive values for BBL-CHROMagar and CHROMagar (about 84%) were the highest. The negative predictive values of all of the media were >92% for MRSA prevalences ranging from 5% to 30%. In conclusion, BBL-CHROMagar and CHROMagar gave the best overall results for detection of MRSA, irrespective of the sample concentration, investigator, or incubation period.