ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2010
Real-time PCR testing for mecA reduces vancomycin usage and length of hospitalization for patients infected with methicillin-sensitive staphylococci.
Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The American Society for Microbiology's evidence-based laboratory medicine practice guidelines for the diagnosis of bloodstream infections using rapid tests: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2025Guideline
- Effectiveness of Practices To Increase Timeliness of Providing Targeted Therapy for Inpatients with Bloodstream Infections: a Laboratory Medicine Best Practices Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Rapid molecular diagnostic tests in patients with bacteremia: evaluation of their impact on decision making and clinical outcomes.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2015Pooled it
- Randomized Trial Evaluating Clinical Impact of RAPid IDentification and Susceptibility Testing for Gram-negative Bacteremia: RAPIDS-GN.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2021Trial
- Randomized Trial of Rapid Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction-Based Blood Culture Identification and Susceptibility Testing.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2015Trial
- Biographical Feature: Benjamin A. Pinsky, MD, PhD.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2026Article
- Impact of rapid molecular testing on clinical outcomes for methicillin-susceptibleAntimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2026Article
- Antibiotic Resistance in the Elderly: Mechanisms, Risk Factors, and Solutions.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Failure ofAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2023Article
- Impact of a Rapid Blood Culture Diagnostic Test in a Children's Hospital Depends on Gram-Positive versus Gram-Negative Organism and Day versus Night Shift.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2020Article
- Calculated parenteral initial treatment of bacterial infections: Economic aspects of antibiotic treatment.GMS infectious diseases · 2020Article
- A Baker's Dozen of Top Antimicrobial Stewardship Intervention Publications in 2017.Open forum infectious diseases · 2019Review
- Is It Actionable? An Evaluation of the Rapid PCR-Based Blood Culture Identification Panel on the Management of Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Blood Stream Infections.Open forum infectious diseases · 2018Article
- Expanding Existing Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in Pediatrics: What Comes Next.Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society · 2018Review
- A 72-h intervention for improvement of the rate of optimal antibiotic therapy in patients with bloodstream infections.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2018Article
- Clinical and laboratory considerations for the rapid detection of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.Virulence · 2017Review
- Multicenter Evaluation of the Portrait Staph ID/R Blood Culture Panel for Rapid Identification of Staphylococci and Detection of theJournal of clinical microbiology · 2017Article
- Advances in Rapid Identification and Susceptibility Testing of Bacteria in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory: Implications for Patient Care and Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs.Infectious disease reports · 2017Review
- A Retrospective Study of the Impact of Rapid Diagnostic Testing on Time to Pathogen Identification and Antibiotic Use for Children with Positive Blood Cultures.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2016Article
- Individualized Approaches Are Needed for Optimized Blood Cultures.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) have revolutionized infectious disease diagnosis, allowing for the rapid and sensitive identification of pathogens in clinical specimens. Real-time PCR testing for the mecA gene (mecA PCR), which confers methicillin resistance in staphylococci, has the added potential to reduce antibiotic usage, improve clinical outcomes, lower health care costs, and avoid emergence of drug resistance. A retrospective study was performed to identify patients infected with methicillin-sensitive staphylococcal isolates who were receiving vancomycin treatment when susceptibility results became available. Vancomycin treatment and length of hospitalization were compared in these patients for a 6-month period before and after implementation of mecA PCR. Among 65 and 94 patients identified before and after mecA PCR, respectively, vancomycin usage (measured in days on therapy) declined from a median of 3 days (range, 1 to 44 days) in the pre-PCR period to 1 day (range, 0 to 18 days) in the post-PCR period (P < 0.0001). In total, 38.5% (25/65) of patients were switched to beta-lactam therapy in the pre-PCR period, compared to 61.7% (58/94) in the post-PCR period (P = 0.004). Patient hospitalization days also declined from a median of 8 days (range, 1 to 47 days) in the pre-PCR period to 5 days (range, 0 to 42 days) in the post-PCR period (P = 0.03). Real-time PCR testing for mecA is an effective tool for reducing vancomycin usage and length of stay of hospitalized patients infected with methicillin-sensitive staphylococci. In the face of ever-rising health care expenditures in the United States, these findings have important implications for improving outcomes and decreasing costs.
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