Colonisation and infection of patients by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) represent both a health hazard (especially due to more difficult treatment as a result of MRSA’s resistance to various antibiotics) and an economic burden on the German health care system.

MRSA infections increase morbidity and mortality and cause significantly higher diagnostic and treatment costs (isolation of patients, prolongation of the treatment period or hospital stay).

For the development of target-oriented prevention and control strategies, suitable detection methods for MRSA are of crucial importance.

A piezoelectric sensor that enables rapid MRSA detection directly on site was therefore developed (piezoelectric MRSA detection): MRSA cells are bound to a piezoelectric material (oscillating quartz) via MRSA-specific antibodies and marked by acoustic probes.

Excitation of the acoustic probes with pulsed monochromatic light induces periodic temperature changes, which amplify the measurement signal and thus increase the detection limit of the piezoelectric sensor.

The research report is available on request from FRT.