- Used to differentiate Staphylococcus aureus from less pathogenic coagulase-negative staphylococci
- Tests for the ability of the organism to convert fibrinogen into fibrin (that is, to form a clot)
- Slide coagulase
- Checks for agglutination from bound coagulase and clumping factors after a drop of plasma is combined with a suspension of the bacteria on a slide
- Positive if clumping is apparent within 10 seconds or less, and no clumping is observed in saline or water
- Staphylococcus aureus is negative in 15% of tests, especially MRSA, so negative results need to be confirmed with tube coagulase
- A few species of coagulase-negative staphylococci may be positive due to membrane-bound clumping factor
- Tube coagulase
References
- ^ Takashi Sasaki, Sae Tsubakishita, Yoshikazu Tanaka, Arihito Sakusabe, Masayuki Ohtsuka, Shintaro Hirotaki, Tetsuji Kawakami, Tsuneo Fukata, Keiichi Hiramatsu. Multiplex-PCR Method for Species Identification of Coagulase-Positive Staphylococci. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 2010;48(3):765-769. doi:10.1128/jcm.01232-09.