Two market-leading rapid tests are unable to detect a new multidrug-resistant strain of bacteria. This is what a team from the research department „Optical Molecular ­Diagnostics and Systems Technology“ and the InfectoGnostics research campus with international partners has discovered. The researchers show that a new strain of ­bacteria, which is increasingly spreading in Europe, has altered its genome in such a way that some of the market-leading PCR tests no longer correctly identify it as MRSA.

The origin of the new pathogen, called „European CC1-MRSA-IV,“ is believed to be southeastern Europe. The MRSA strain has also been detected in Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria. MRSA are bacteria of the species Staphylococcus aureus, which become resistant, i. e. insensitive, to the antibiotic methicillin and also to most other antibiotics.

The false-negative test results could lead to wrong decisions in antibiotic therapy and delay infection prevention measures in ­hospitals, the researchers warn.