Abstract
Drug resistance, particularly vancomycin and methicillin resistance, in Staphylococcus aureus continues to emerge as a significant public health threat in both the hospital and community settings. In addition to the limited treatment options, S. aureus strains acquire and express numerous virulence factors that continue to increase its ability to cause a wide spectrum of human disease. As a result, empirical treatment decisions are confounded and there is a heightened need for a diagnostic test (or assay) to rapidly identify antibiotic resistance and specific virulence determinants and indicate the appropriate treatment. To that end we developed a platform using multiplex molecular beacon probes with real-time PCR for the rapid detection of drug resistance-determining genes and virulence factors in S. aureus. In this study, we demonstrate the specificity and sensitivity of our platform for detection of the genes conferring methicillin (mecA) and vancomycin (vanA) resistance as well as a gene encoding the virulence factor Panton-Valentine leucocidin (lukF) in S. aureus isolates.