Table I.
Comparison of the Staphylococcus aureus typing techniques
| Technique | Set-up cost | Cost per isolate | Current availability | Time to results | Data analysis | Data transferability | Common nomenclature | Level of resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PFGE | Low | £4–7 | Local and reference laboratories | 2–3 days | Minimal | Limited | USA type (USA-) | Lineage |
| MLVA | Low | £3–5 | Research and reference laboratories | 24 h | Minimal | Limited | MLVA complex (Sa-) | Lineage |
| MLST | High | £20 | Research and reference laboratories | Days | Moderate | Yes – widely | Sequence type (ST-) | Lineage |
| spa | High | £3–5 | Local and reference laboratories | 24 h | Moderate | Yes – widely | Spa-type (t-) | Lineage |
| WGS | High | ∼£100 | Research laboratories | Real timea | High | Being addressed | To be determined | Base pair |
PFGE, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; MLVA, multi-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis; MLST, multi-locus sequence typing; spa, spa-typing; WGS, whole genome sequencing.
a
Third generation sequencing platforms.