TOPIC: Critical Care TYPE: Fellow Case Reports INTRODUCTION: Coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS) is a common harmless skin commensal and often disregarded when isolated in clinical specimens. However, this colonizer can prove to be pathogenic life-threatening CASE PRESENTATION: A 24-year-old obese woman with Grave's disease type 1 diabetes presented altered mental status. She was tachycard...

A 57-year-old end stage renal disease patient on hemodialysis (HD) presented with sepsis secondary to right buttock abscess and overlying cellulitis. She was started on broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy and underwent incision and drainage with marked improvement. Her cultures grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus lugdunensis. This bacterium is more virulent than other coagulase negative sta...

Eighty-six strains encompassing 11 species of coagulase-negative staphylococci were examined for the production of fatty acid modifying enzyme (FAME) and lipase. Staphylococcus schleiferi and S. saprophyticus most closely resembled S. aureus in that 80% of the strains produced both enzymes. In contrast, no strains of S. lugdunensis and S. haemolyticus tested produced these enzymes. S. simulans ...