Staphylococcus lentus: The troublemaker

Background: Staphylococcus lentus has been associated with infections in animals, however S. lentus has rarely been reported as a pathogen in humans. Here we report 72 cases involving S. lentus at our institution over a period of 9 years. Review of the literature revealed only one case of a human infection, and to our knowledge, this is the largest series of S. lentus infection in humans reported so far. Methods: Cases were defined as clinically significant if there was evidence of a positive culture, in addition to signs and symptoms of pain, tenderness, swelling, fever or leukocytosis. Results: Of the 72 cases, 20 involved only S. lentus, 50 had associated microbes, and 2 cases were unknown. Of the 20 cases involving solely S. lentus, 9 were from urine, 1 from peritoneal fluid, 7 from blood, 1 from CSF and 2 from wound cultures. All patients with culture positive S. lentus (both with and without associated microbes) had clinical signs of infection including leukocytosis, fever, pain, tenderness, swelling, infection noted by physician or improvement with antibiotic therapy. Analysis of demographic data revealed no particular patterns. Forty-four of the 72 cases were culture positive within 1–3 days of culture or admission. Antibiotic sensitivities revealed 83% sensitivity to Vancomycin and 29% sensitivity to Oxacillin. Conclusion: Little is known about S. lentus and only one report of human infection exists. Our case study involved 72 cases of S. lentus positive cultures at our institution with evidence of clinical infection in all 72 cases. Based on our experience, S. lentus is a true pathogen that deserves attention. We feel, however, that it will require clinical sense to decide if infection with S. lentus is significant when analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Abstracts for SupplementInternational Journal of Infectious DiseasesVol. 14Preview Full-Text PDF Open Archive