Objective: to evaluate the use of peripheral venous catheters based on microbiological analysis of devices (dressing and three-way stopcocks) and thus contribute to the prevention and infection control. Methods: this was a prospective study of microbiological analysis of 30 three-way stopcocks (external surfaces and lumens) and 30 dressing used in maintaining the peripheral venous catheters o...

A group of strains of Staphylococcus albus is described which produced neither coagulase nor haemolysin, was slightly sensitive or resistant to novobiocin, and sensitive to all other antibiotics, to sulphonamides, and to nitrofurantoin. The agglutinating antigen 51 was isolated from all strains from patients with urinary infections and abundant pyuria. In more than 40 cases studied it was not p...

"Staphylococcus pettenkoferi" (proposed name) was identified as an unusual agent of osteomyelitis in a diabetic foot infection. The phenotypical tests used failed to give a good identification. Molecular 16S rRNA gene and rpoB sequencing allowed us to correctly identify this new species of coagulase-negative staphylococcus responsible for this chronic infection.

pls, a gene found in type I staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) regions of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains, was present in 12 of the 15 human clinical Staphylococcus sciuri isolates studied. Pls was expressed in the S. sciuri isolates, although at a lower level than in S. aureus. Other parts of SCCmec could also be found in the S. sciuri genome.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) remains as the most nosocomial pathogen and is now the emerging problem of community-associated infections. In the present study 100 nasal samples from pediatric patients were subjected to bacteriological and molecular tests for the identification drug resistant Staphylococcus organisms and detection of responsible genes. It revealed that out o...

The performance of the MicroScan WalkAway PC30 panel for detection of oxacillin resistance was evaluated by use of a collection of 420 staphylococcus isolates. The addition of a cefoxitin test (4 mg/liter) to the oxacillin MIC determination increased its raw performance for Staphylococcus aureus; additional data were required for coagulase-negative staphylococci.

In an effort to rapidly identify coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), a clinical comparison was conducted with the AutoMicrobic system Gram-Positive Identification Card (GPI) (Vitek Systems, Inc.), the API Staph-Ident (Analytab Products), and the conventional methods of W. E. Kloos and K. H. Schleifer (W. E. Kloos and K. H. Schleifer, J. Clin. Microbiol. 1:82-88, 1975). CNS isolates tested i...