# Culture harder: use more specimen to increase methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus culture yield relative to PCR

## TL;DR

Using more specimen volume in culture improves MRSA detection compared to low-volume culture and molecular assays.

## Contribution

Demonstrates that increasing specimen volume in culture increases MRSA detection yield.

## Key findings

- High-volume culture detected 25% more MRSA cases than low-volume culture.
- Molecular assays showed superior sensitivity but culture can be improved with higher specimen volumes.

## Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes considerable morbidity and mortality in both community-acquired and healthcare-associated infections, but detecting colonization with MRSA has been shown to improve patient outcomes in certain clinical settings. MRSA colonization detection has been carried out in a variety of ways, with molecular assays having superior sensitivity in most studies relative to culture, but culture is disadvantaged in some comparisons by utilization of low specimen volumes. We compared a commercial molecular assay to both low-volume (10 µl) and high-volume (650 µl) cultures and found that increasing the volume utilized for culture led to the detection of 25% more cases than low-volume culture.