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Health Canada Clears Cepheid's MRSA Test to Combat Hospital Infections

Jan 29, 2008
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The Canadian government has licensed Cepheid’s test for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus for use in hospitals, the company said today.
 
The company said Health Canada’s device license for the Xpert MRSA test, which runs on the GeneXpert System and identifies MRSA in around 70 minutes, can help Canadian healthcare organizations maintain better control measures for MRSA hospital-acquired infections. 
 
A government committee in Ontario last year recommended that high-risk patients “should be actively screened for MRSA,” the company said. The rate of MRSA occurrence in Canadian hospitals has risen “steadily between 1995 and 2004,” Cepheid added in a statement.
 
“We expect to see more countries moving toward initiation of active surveillance programs," said Cepheid CEO John Bishop.
 

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