title: Determination of clinical significance of coagulase-negative staphylococci in blood cultures.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the criteria used to distinguish coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) bacteremia from contamination. We evaluated 162 adult patients with CoNS-positive blood cultures (BCs). Of the 162 patients, 35 (21.6%) had at least 2 positive BCs and 127 (78.4%) had a single positive BC. According to the Laboratory-Confirmed Bloodstream Infection (LCBI) criteria, 24 (14.8%) patients with the same species of CoNS had true bacteremia, and 138 (85.2%) patients had contaminants. Despite the detection of the same CoNS species, 9 of the 24 patients had different CoNS genotypes. Using clinical assessments, only 20 patients were diagnosed with true bacteremia, 8 of them had a single positive BC. We concluded that only using the LCBI criteria or clinical evaluations of a patient were not sufficient to distinguish CoNS bacteremia from contamination. Molecular identification should also be performed as a diagnostic laboratory parameter for CoNS bacteremia.
authors.affiliation: Cerrahpasa Medical School of Istanbul University, Medical Microbiology, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: asiyekarakullukcu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Asiye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karakullukçu
authors.affiliation: Cerrahpasa Medical School of Istanbul University, Medical Microbiology, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: kuskucum@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mert Ahmet
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kuşkucu
authors.affiliation: Cerrahpasa Medical School of Istanbul University, Medical Microbiology, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: sevgiergin@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sevgi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ergin
authors.affiliation: Cerrahpasa Medical School of Istanbul University, Medical Microbiology, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: gokhanaygun67@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Gökhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aygün
authors.affiliation: Cerrahpasa Medical School of Istanbul University, Medical Microbiology, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: kmidilli@istanbul.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Kenan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Midilli
authors.affiliation: Cerrahpasa Medical School of Istanbul University, Medical Microbiology, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: obasmaci@istanbul.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Ömer
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Küçükbasmaci
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D000071997:Blood Culture; D003030:Coagulase / Q000172:deficiency*; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058889:Molecular Typing; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D003030:Coagulase
keywords: Bacteremia; Blood culture; Coagulase negative Staphylococci; Contamination; RAPD-PCR