Case of Staphylococcus schleiferi Endocarditis and a Simple Scheme To Identify Clumping Factor-Positive Staphylococci

Abstract

Staphylococcus schleiferi is a coagulase-negative staphylococcus infrequently reported as a human pathogen. We report a case of prosthetic valve endocarditis attributed to this organism, contrast it to another Staphylococcus species that gives similar clumping factor results (S. lugdunensis), and propose a simple, effective identification scheme for identification of clumping factor-positive staphylococci.

Evaluation of Oxacillin and Cefoxitin Disk Diffusion and MIC Breakpoints Established by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute for Detection of mecA -Mediated Oxacillin Resistance in Staphylococcus schleiferi

“…Though it is primarily a veterinary pathogen, S. schleiferi can also cause opportunistic infections in humans. Cases of endophthalmitis (22), endocarditis (23,24), bacteremia (25), osteomyelitis (26), and wound (27), surgical site (27), and pacemaker (28) infections have been reported. S. schleiferi was implicated in an outbreak of surgical site infections and was originally misidentified as Staphylococcus aureus (29).…”

Case of Staphylococcus schleiferi Vascular Access Infections with a Hemodialysis Patient

“…They can be distinguished by activity of tube coagulase and urease. S. schleiferi subsp schleiferi is tube coagulase and urease negative, whereas S. schleiferi subsp coagulans is tube coagulase and urease positive [6].…”

“…S. schleiferi has shown diverse human involvement including infection of pacemaker wires, endocarditis, extradural abscesses, and meningitis [6,7]. A retrospective study on 28 patients with S. schleiferi infection found that this pathogen was most commonly involved with surgical wound infections.…”

“…schleiferi subsp coagulans infection in humans is a rare condition. Leung et al [6] described a case with endocarditis, and Thibodeau et al [9] reported a patient with a left ventricular assistance device infection awaiting heart transplantation.…”

<i>vicK</i> Gene as Potential Identification Marker for <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>

“…A high rate of false identification by phenotypic methods has been reported in Nigeria contributing to 85% misidentification of S. aureus, whereas 49% false identification has been documented in Libya [49] [50]. Although coagulase test represents the standard method for identification of S. aureus, a few CoNS produce clumping factor which can be erroneously interpreted as coagulase-positive S. aureus [51] [52]. Due to budgetary and time constraints, further experiments were not carried out to verify the identity of these isolates.…”