December 17, 2007, San Clemente, CA--Thanks to several technical advances, Micro Imaging Technology's laser-based MIT 1000 microbial rapid identification system can now identify the life-threatening bacterial strain Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The company also recently completed rigorous microorganism identification accuracy testing, testing three MIT Rapid Microbial ID Systems for identification accuracy on a total of eight different species' strains of E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella.
The system can now identify four different Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) strain types including the MRSA strain. MIT's ultimate goal is to enable the MIT 1000 to rapidly (within minutes of culturing) differentiate MRSA from non-resistant 'Staph' bacteria. The system can also identify nine different strains of E. coli. The MIT 1000 System produces results in less than 10 minutes after completion of the culturing process without using chemicals, reagents, or DNA processing.
"We are very encouraged with the advancements made in the past several months and expect further progress will be achieved in both areas in early 2008," said John Ricardi, vice president of business development. "Advancing the MIT 1000 capability to rapidly identify and differentiate antibiotic resistant bacteria from 'treatable' bacteria should provide health care centers with a useful tool to help isolate and control life-threatening bacterial infections."