Typing of multiple isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci from blood cultures and cerebrospinal fluid in neonates and children: an approach to discriminate contaminants.

From eight neonates and children suspicious for suffering from septicemia and/or meningitis, coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) were isolated from multiple blood cultures and from cerebrospinal fluids originating from different punctures. S. epidermidis was the predominant species. By a further typing using plasmid-profiles and exoprotein patterns besides the resistance phenotype, contaminants could be discriminated from the isolates as the probable etiologic agent exhibiting unique reaction patterns. CNS isolated from cases of septicemia together with other bacterial pathogens or from cases of presumed but not confirmed septicemia revealed as different.