Standard Precautions
Vancomycin
Gram positive cocci in clusters, coagulase-negative.
Ubiquitous - skin organism.
Most commonly a skin contaminant/colonizer.
The most common contaminant of blood cultures. More likely true bloodstream infection if present in multiple blood culture sets.
This may be a real pathogen particularly in nosocomial setting. Multiple blood cultures recommended.
Disease manifestations include infections of prosthetic materials including:
Staphylococcus saprophyticus causes UTI in young females, but is very rare
Staphylococcus lugdenensis acts more like Staphylococcus aureus and is more virulent than other CoNS - should always be considered as a pathogen and treated like S. aureus