Oxacillin Susceptibility Testing of Staphylococci Directly from Bactec Plus Blood Cultures by the BBL Crystal MRSA ID System

The BBL Crystal MRSA ID test (Becton Dickinson) was applied directly to blood culture vials containing clusters of gram-positive cocci. The sensitivity and specificity of the test were 84 and 100% and 54 and 100% for vials containing Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci, respectively. This test is a reliable method for direct detection of methicillin resistance in positive blood culture vials when S. aureus is identified in parallel by rapid identification procedures.