Rapid identification of Staphylococcus aureus directly from Bactec blood culture broth by the BinaxNOW S. aureus test

The BinaxNOW Staphylococcus aureus testing showed sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predicative values of 97.6%, 100%, 100%, and 98.4%, respectively, for identification of S. aureus from Bactec blood culture broth. Importantly, the test performed equally well on aerobic and anaerobic culture broth.