bioMerieux announces the US launch of chromID MRSA, a simple and cost-effective solution in the struggle against MRSA. The product recently received FDA 510(k) clearance for the detection of MRSA, one of the most pervasive sources for high-morbidity healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in U.S. hospitals.
The current national debate on escalating healthcare costs includes screening for multi-drug resistant bacteria, such as MRSA. chromID MRSA is perfectly adapted for general screening processes in healthcare institutions as it economically provides unambiguous results with a simple protocol. The presence of MRSA is visually identified by green colored colonies on chromID MRSA chromogenic media (biomerieux-usa.com/chromid) after a 24-hour incubation period.
"According to CDC data, invasive MRSA infections occur in approximately 94,000 people annually and cause as many as 9,000 deaths per year," said Herb Steward, general manager and executive vice president, bioMerieux North America. "Helping healthcare facilities to cost-effectively detect antibiotic-resistant strains with improved accuracy can play a critical role in the bigger picture of decreasing MRSA-related nosocomial infections," said Steward.
As a leader in Microbiology, it is bioMerieux’s objective to provide customers with the most flexible and complete solution to effectively manage MRSA, spanning manual and automated techniques, from culture-based methods to molecular biology. A more comprehensive approach to containing MRSA needs to be taken, involving critical functions such as resistance detection, organism strain typing for outbreak investigations, hygiene, and antibiotic stewardship programs.
"We applaud organizations like bioMerieux for playing a key role on World MRSA Day and for bringing cost-effective solutions to our healthcare facilities," said Jeanine Thomas, MRSA survivor and founder of the MRSA Survivors Network. Thomas recently hosted the Inaugural World MRSA Day with a remembrance ceremony for those who have lost their lives or suffered from this preventable disease. Thomas added, "MRSA survivors, their families, and all those touched by this disease finally had their day and their voices heard."
A recent study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases examined the hospital and societal costs of antimicrobial-resistant infections (ARIs) in a Chicago teaching hospital.
Nearly half (43%) of the patients with antibiotic-resistant infections in the study had an infection due to MRSA. The paper also discussed the need for a more comprehensive evaluation of the cost of resistance and the potential economic benefits of prevention programs like antibiotic stewardship.
chromID MRSA simplifies the detection of MRSA, enabling more economical implementation of adapted prevention measures. chromID MRSA agar is a selective and differential chromogenic medium for the qualitative detection of nasal colonization of methicillin-resistant S. aureus. This tool aids in the prevention and control of MRSA infections in healthcare settings. bioMerieux’s chromID MRSA has been widely adopted throughout Europe over the past few years, leading to more than two dozen publications in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences.
Identifying resistance and helping clinicians get clear actionable information so they can begin effective antibiotic therapy as early as possible is an integral part of bioMerieux’s recently launched S.M.A.R.T. Campaign (biomerieux-usa.com/smart). The Solutions to Manage the Antimicrobial Resistance Threat (S.M.A.R.T.) initiative promises to create more educational resources for the lab and to provide healthcare professionals with relevant tools to identify, monitor, prevent, and track resistance.
Source: bioMerieux
