Abscesses and wound infections due to Staphylococcus lugdunensis: report of 16 cases

• Published in: Infection Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 525 - 528
• Main Authors: Papapetropoulos, N., Papapetropoulou, M., Vantarakis, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-04-2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abscess - drug therapy; Abscess - microbiology; Adult; Aged; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Antibiotics; Clinical and Epidemiological Study; Contaminants; Databases, Factual; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Erythromycin - therapeutic use; Family Medicine; Female; General Practice; Greece; Humans; Infectious Diseases; Internal Medicine; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Methicillin - therapeutic use; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Middle Aged; Soft Tissue Infections - drug therapy; Soft Tissue Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcal Skin Infections - diagnosis; Staphylococcal Skin Infections - drug therapy; Staphylococcus lugdunensis; Staphylococcus lugdunensis - drug effects; Staphylococcus lugdunensis - isolation & purification; Tertiary Care Centers; Treatment Outcome; Wound Infection - drug therapy; Wound Infection - microbiology; Greece; Infection; Antibiotic susceptibility; Wound infections
• ISSN: 0300-8126; 1439-0973
• DOI: 10.1007/s15010-012-0381-z

Purpose
Staphylococcus lugdunensis
has emerged as a major human pathogen, capable of causing significant infections at many sites. It should never be dismissed as a contaminant without careful review. We report 16 cases of wound infections and skin and soft tissue abscesses caused by
S. lugdunensis
during a period of 3.5 years (January 2008–June 2011). These cases were isolated from clinical specimens in a tertiary hospital (250 beds) in Athens, Greece.
Methods
The identification of
S. lugdunensis
was based on Gram staining, catalase and coagulase test results, and 26 biochemical reactions that were included in the database of the MicroScan Walkaway 96 commercial system. The susceptibility pattern was performed with the same commercial system according to CLSI recommendations.
Results
Twenty-five isolates were classified as
S. lugdunensis
, of which 16 were considered to be clinically significant. The age distribution of the patients ranged from 29 to 65 years. Patient outcome after treatment was good with no long-term sequel. All isolated
S. lugdunensis
were methicillin sensitive (cefoxitin screen negative), while five isolates were β-lactamase producers. The isolates were susceptible to most of the antibiotics tested except for a few cases that were resistant to erythromycin, tetracycline, and clindamycin.
Conclusions
Coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from traumatic and surgical wound infections should be identified by microbiological laboratories to the species level, and susceptibility testing should be performed on these isolates so as not to underrate the virulence of staphylococci resembling
S. aureus
.