Is hospital-acquired intravascular catheter-related sepsis associated withoutbreak strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci?

Macrorestriction fragment profile analysis by pulsed field gel electrophore sis was used to type strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) isol ated from 30 patients with catheter-related sepsis at the University Hospit al Birmingham NHS Trust, UK. Twenty-three infections were hospital-acquired . A total of 56 CNS were isolated from the patients and identified by API a s Stapylococcus epidermidis (54), Staphylococcus lugdunensis (1) and Staphy lococcus hominis (1). The micro-organisms were further characterized by ant ibiograms and restriction digestion using SmaI. Analysis of the macrorestri ction fragment profiles demonstrated that the isolates from 24 patients wer e distinct, whereas a common genotype of S. epidermidis was isolated from t he blood cultures of six patients, all of whom had acquired this infection in hospital. Three of these patients were located in a haematology ward, tw o on an intensive care unit and one on a dialysis unit. The data from this current study suggests that specific strains of S. epidermidis may be an im portant cause of nosocomial catheter-related sepsis resulting from cross-in fection, and that this association would not be detected by conventional ty ping methods including biotyping and antibiograms. (C) 2000 The Hospital in fection Society.