Recurrent ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection caused by small-colony variants of Staphylococcus aureus.
Phenotypic variants of Staphylococcus aureus may be misidentified by routine microbiological methods, and they may also respond poorly to antibacterial treatment. Using molecular methods, we identified small-colony variants of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (which were misidentified by 3 widely used automated identification systems as methicillin-susceptible coagulase-negative staphylococci) as the cause of recurrent ventriculoperitoneal shunt-related meningitis.
Spanu
Teresa
T
Institute of Microbiology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. tspanu@rm.unicatt.it
Romano
Lucio
L
D'Inzeo
Tiziana
T
Masucci
Luca
L
Albanese
Alessio
A
Papacci
Fabio
F
Marchese
Enrico
E
Sanguinetti
Maurizio
M
Fadda
Giovanni
G
D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017287:Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt / Q000009:adverse effects*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents