Microbiologic studies of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from patients with nosocomial bacteraemias

We studied 50 strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) isolated from 50 patients with hospital-acquired bacteraemia, identified by prospective surveillance at the University of Virginia Hospital between March 1981 and September 1982. Using the Staph-Ident System for speciation, we found that 37 strains (74%) were Staphylococcus epidermidis, 7 (14%) Staph. hominis, 3 (6%) Staph. haemolyticus and 3 (6%) Staph. warneri. 33 (66%) of the strains produced slime and a higher proportion of the Staph. epidermidis group (75%) than the non-epidermidis group (46%), did so. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined by a microdilution technique with 20 different antibiotics. There was no difference in geometric mean MICs between slime producers and non-slime producers within either the epidermidis or non-epidermidis group. The most potent antibiotics against Staph. epidermidis (MIC90 mg l-1) were rifampin (0.05), netilmicin (0.05), amikacin (2.9), thienamycin (0.75), teichomycin (0.85), vancomycin (1.0) and nafcillin (0.39). On the other hand strains were resistant to tobramycin (15), moxalactam (50), fosfomycin (greater than 64), and clindamycin (greater than 64). Overall, eight (16%) of the CNS strains were resistant to methicillin, three of which were Staph. haemolyticus. The non-epidermidis strains were more resistant than the Staph. epidermidis strains to most beta-lactam antibiotics. Differences in antibiograms indicate that speciation of CNS may prove useful for clinical and epidemiologic purposes.