Molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus epidermidis blood isolates from neonatal intensive care unit patients.

Twelve episodes of Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteraemia occurred within three months in a neonatal intensive care unit. Plasmid profiles and Southern blot hybridization with five different probes were used to determine whether an endemic strain of S. epidermidis could be identified among the contemporary isolates. It was concluded that this methodology was satisfactory for differentiation between isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci: fifteen isolates were divided in eight groups indicating that there was no single endemic strain causing the outbreak.