Classification and characteristics of coagulase-negative, methicillin-resistant staphylococci.

Sixty-five clinical isolates of coagulase-negative, methicillin-resistant staphylococci have been classified as Staphylococcus epidermidis (63.0%), "phosphatase-negative S. epidermidis" (12.3%), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus aureus (6.2%), Staphylococcus hemolyticus (6.2%), Staphylococcus hominis (3.1%), and Staphylococcus warneri (1.5%). Five of the organisms (7.7%) could not be classified with certainty as currently recognized species. Novobiocin resistance was encountered in eight of the strains, but these were not classified as the accepted novobiocin-resistant staphylococcal species. Some differences in antibiotic resistance patterns to those typical of methicillin-resistant S. aureus were noted in that, although 29 strains were resistant to methicillin, penicillin, sulfamethizole, streptomycin, and tetracycline, the remainder of the strains were sensitive to streptomycin or tetracycline or both. In a majority of the strains (42 of 65), methicillin susceptibility testing by the disk method at 30 or at 37 degrees C in the presence of NaCl did not appear to enhance resistance expression. Most of the strains produced beta-lactamase (EC 3.5.2.6), but none of the 21 strains tested produced enterotoxin B.