[Catheter associated Staphylococcus sciuri sepsis in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia]

The coagulase-negative bacterial species Staphylococcus sciuri is widely distributed in the natural environment. Although principally found in animals, S. sciuri is occasionally isolated from human samples. In this paper, S. sciuri bacteremia which was associated with an indwelling catheter of a patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and neutropenia was presented. An empirical intravenous antibiotic therapy (meropenem, vancomycin) was initiated with the preliminary diagnosis of febrile neutropenia and catheter infection. The catalase and oxidase positive, tube coagulase negative strain isolated from three of the concurrent blood cultures and intravenous catheter culture has been identified as S. sciuri. The isolate was found resistant to penicilin and oxacilline. This case has emphasized the importance of identification of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from the cultures of patients with haematological malignancy.