Rapid Method for Detection of Staphylococcus aureus in Feces

: Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic human pathogen causing food-borne diseases. Therefore, the goal of the present work was to develop a robust protocol for identification of small amounts of S. aureus DNA in order to establish a rapid, sensitive, and simple method of detect whether this species is present in the stool of patients. A protocol was developed for extraction of DNA by Fe₃O₄ @SiO₂ microbeads and subsequent detection of S. aureus-specific DNA sequences by the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The LAMP technique was rapid and sensitive, which allowsed the detect for bacteria at concentrations as low as 10² cells/mL. This level of detection was superior to that seen for conventional PCR and real-time PCR. Moreover, the LAMP protocol did not require specialized expensive instrumentation. These features of the novel assay developed here indicate that it may serve as an effective tool for point-of-care diagnosis of acute S. aureus infections.