Virulence, Susceptibility Profile, and Clinical Characteristics of Pathogenic Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci

Background Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are emerging as clinically significant pathogens. A high proportion of methicillin resistance along with intense biofilm-producing ability render CoNS-related infections challenging to treat. This study was undertaken to investigate the mechanisms of methicillin resistance, identify genes encoding for virulence, and their association with clinical outcomes among clinical isolates of Staphylococci in a tertiary care center. Methods A total of 203 clinical isolates were included in this study. Susceptibility to various antibiotics was determined by the disc diffusion method. Methicillin resistance was screened using cefoxitin disc,