MAST® has available from stock MASTALEX™-MRSA, a rapid kit for the detection of methicillin resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

MRSA has been increasingly implicated as a major cause of nosocomial infection since it was first described in 1961. Bacterial surface membrane proteins, which have affinity for beta-lactam antibiotics, are called penicillin-binding proteins (PBP's). In classical methicillin resistance, a specific penicillin binding protein, PBP2' or PBP2a is present.

The chromosomal gene mecA is the structural gene, which encodes PBP2' and recent research suggests that it is more effective to either directly detect the mecA gene or its product, PBP2'.

Presented as kits for the performance of 48 tests, MASTALEX-MRSA is a quick and convenient test, which can be used either for screening or diagnosis. The kit saves the laboratory time as no second incubation is needed and results can be obtained within 5-10 minutes. The simple latex format is simple to use, providing easy to read results.