Identification of @entity23819 intermedius Group by MALDI- XXXX @entity15 .

@entity2868 @entity15 @entity215 @entity23819
The @entity23819 intermedius Group includes @entity2868 , @entity23819 and S. delphini, coagulase-positive bacteria commonly isolated from animals. The identification of organisms belonging to this group is presently carried out using molecular methods. This study assessed the suitability of MALDI- @entity215 @entity15 for their identification. 69 strains of different biological and geographic origins, identified by partial hsp60 gene sequencing as @entity2868 (n=15), @entity23819 (n=32) and S. delphini (n=22), were analyzed by MALDI- @entity215 @entity15 . The estimated sensitivity, specificity and efficiency were calculated. In addition we computed the agreement between the outcome of MALDI- @entity215 @entity15 identification and partial hsp60 gene sequencing. The sensitivity of MALDI- @entity215 @entity15 was higher for @entity2868 [0.95 (95% CI: 0.68-0.99)], than for @entity23819 [0.78 (95% CI: 0.60-0.90)] and S. delphini [0.64 (95% CI: 0.41-0.83)], whereas the specificity was 1 for @entity2868 and S. delphini and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.86-0.99) for @entity23819 . The Cohen's kappa coefficient indicated almost perfect agreement between MALDI- @entity215 @entity15 and hsp60 gene sequencing for the identification of @entity2868 [0.96 (95% CI: 0.87-1.04)], and substantial agreement for S. delphini and @entity23819 [0.70 (95% CI: 0.52-0.89) and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.616-0.92), respectively]. The overall efficiency of the proteomic identification ranged between 0.88 (95% CI: 0.78-0.95) for @entity23819 and S. delphini and 0.99 (95% CI: 0.92-0.99) for @entity2868 . MALDI- @entity215 @entity15 is thus a valuable and reliable tool for the rapid and accurate identification of bacteria belonging to the @entity2868 Group.
