Current molecular approach for diagnosis of MRSA: a meta-narrative review

Abstract

Introduction: Detection and diagnosis of MRSA are important in ensuring a correct and effective treatment, further reducing its spread. There are a wide range of molecular approaches for the diagnosis of AMR in MRSA, including PCR, MLST and SCCmec. This review aims to study and appraise current molecular diagnostic methods used for the detection of MRSA. Method: This narrative review was performed by searching the PubMed using the following search terms: (molecular diagnosis) AND (antimicrobial resistance) NOT (review [publication type)) NOT (systematic review [publication type)) NOT (meta-analysis[publication type)) AND (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus). Studies using molecular diagnostic techniques for the detection of MRSA were included, while non-English language, duplicates, and non-article studies were excluded. After reviewing the libraries and a further manual search, 20 studies were included in this paper. RAMESES publication standard for narrative reviews was used for this synthesis. Results: Of the 20 studies included, 11 studies employed PCR for diagnosing MRSA , 2 studies on DNA Microarray, Xpert MRSA/SA BC assay (n=1), MALDI-TOF (n=2), MLST (n=5) and SCCMec typing (n=1). Discussion: Different diagnostic methods used for the diagnosis of MRSA have been studied in this review. Each diagnostic technique have its benefits and drawbacks, however, this study concludes that PCR has been extensively used due to its increased sensitivity and cost-effectiveness.