Staphylococcus lugdunensis, a common cause of skin and soft tissue infections in the community.
Staphylococcus lugdunensis, a rare cause of severe infections such as native valve endocarditis, often causes superficial skin infections similar to Staphylococcus aureus infections. We initiated a study to optimize the identification methods in the routine laboratory, followed by a population-based epidemiologic analysis of patients infected with S. lugdunensis in Viborg County, Denmark. Recognition of a characteristic Eikenella corrodens-like odor on Columbia sheep blood agar combined with colony pleomorphism and prominent beta-hemolysis after 2 days of incubation, confirmed by API-ID-32 Staph, led to an 11-fold increase in the detection of S. lugdunensis. By these methods we found 491 S. lugdunensis infections in 4 years, corresponding to an incidence of 53 per 100,000 per year, an increase from 5 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the preceding years. Seventy-five percent of the cases were found in general practice; these were dominated by skin abscesses (36%), wound infections (25%), and paronychias (13%). Fifty-six percent of the infections occurred below the waist, and toes were the most frequently infected site (21%). Only 3% of the patients suffered from severe invasive infections. The median age was 52 years, and the male/female ratio was 0.69. Our study shows that S. lugdunensis is a common cause of skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTI) and is probably underrated by many laboratories. S. lugdunensis should be accepted as a significant pathogen in SSTI and should be looked for in all routine bacteriological examinations, and clinicians should be acquainted with the name and the pathology of the bacterium.
Böcher
Sidsel
S
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Viborg Hospital, Viborg, Denmark. sbc@ssi.dk
Tønning
Birgitte
B
Skov
Robert L
RL
Prag
Jørgen
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D003718:Denmark; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018461:Soft Tissue Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013207:Staphylococcal Skin Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D055815:Young Adult