Isolation of Members of the Staphylococcus sciuri Group from Urine and Their Relationship to Urinary Tract Infections

Abstract

During a 3-year study period, 32,741 urine samples were analyzed for the presence of members of the Staphylococcus sciuri group (S. sciuri, S. lentus, and S. vitulinus), and 13 isolates were identified. They presented 0.79% of the total number of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated. One case of symptomatic urinary tract infection and five possible cases of asymptomatic bacteriuria caused by these bacteria were established. It is noteworthy, however, that over 50% of the isolates originated from hospitalized patients.Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), with the exception of Staphylococcus saprophyticus, are generally considered to be bacteria of doubtful pathogenicity in the urinary tract (1,14). However, a few recent studies proposed that significance of some CoNS species as uropathogens may have been somewhat underestimated (6, 7).Members of the Staphylococcus sciuri group, S. sciuri, S. lentus, S. vitulinus, and S. pulvereri (15), are principally animal species (3,11,17,21), but they may colonize humans, and their isolation from various human clinical specimens has been reported (2,11,13,16,17,22). Moreover, S. sciuri has been associated with serious infections in humans, such as endocarditis (8), peritonitis (24), septic shock (10), and wound infections (20). Several investigators have reported isolation of S. sciuri (4, 6, 16) and S. lentus (6) from urine. However, they did not specify whether the strains isolated were recovered in pure or mixed culture, the colony counts were not reported, and the relationship between the isolates obtained from urine and urinary tract infections (UTIs) was not discussed. The objectives of the present study were to determine the frequency of isolation of the members of S. sciuri group from urine and to evaluate the significance of these isolates as potential ethiological agents of UTIs.Study population. Urine samples were collected from 32,741 hospitalized patients as well as outpatients examined at three hospitals in the region of Příbram The medical records of patients with urine cultures positive for the members of the S. sciuri group were reviewed for symptoms and signs of UTI (dysuria, urinary frequency, urinary urgency, and costovertebral tenderness), underlying medical disorders, and antimicrobial treatment. S. sciuri group isolation and identification.Approximately 95% of samples were cultured on a Uricult dipslide (Orion Diagnostica, Helsinki, Finland), and the remaining specimens were inoculated on Columbia agar supplemented with 5% sheep blood and MacConkey agar. The plates were examined after overnight incubation at 35°C. Any colony that resembled staphylococci was subcultured and further tested. Preliminary identification of an isolate as a member of the S. sciuri group was based upon microscopical characteristics, positive catalase reaction, positive oxidase test, and resistance to novobiocin. Identification to the species level was done with a STAPHYtest 16 kit (Pliva-Lachema, Brno, Czech Republic) and additional biochemical characterization accordi...

16S Ribosomal RNA Gene-Based Phylogenetic Analysis of Abundant Bacteria in River, Canal and Potable Water in Bangkok, Thailand

“…This bacterium is sometimes found in urine and related to urinary tract infections. 17) This sampling site was probably affected by the wastewater inflow. The dominant bacteria in tap water (3RH0202, 4RH0202, 5RH0202, and 6TW0202) belonged to Alphaproteobacteria, which are often found in oligotrophic environments.…”

Isolation of <i>Staphylococcus sciuri</i> from horse skin infection

“…In this respect, a report also suggested that the possible source of S. sciuri colonization in surgical wounds may be flies perching on open wounds (Kolawole and Shittu, 1997).Thus, it is assumed that frequent contact with healthy domestic and farm animals may also contribute to an at least temporary colonization of the skin, and subsequently the wounds, by S. sciuri (Kloos et al, 1976;Nemeghaire et al, 2014b). Despite the rare occurrence of S. sciuri in humans (Marsou et al, 1999;Couto et al, 2000;Nagase et al, 2002), some reports furthermore point to the role of S. sciuri as opportunistic pathogens isolated from various clinical specimen and causing serious infections in humans such as endocarditis, peritonitis, septic shock, and wound infections (Hedin and Widerstrom, 1998;Wallet et al, 2000;Horii et al, 2001;Stepanovic et al, 2002Stepanovic et al, , 2003). Moreover, despite the lack of data regarding S. sciuri colonization of the handler, a recurrent transmission from the handler to the horse http: //www.openveterinaryjournal.com H. Beims et al Open Veterinary Journal, (2016), Vol.…”

“…This group includes S. sciuri (with three subspecies), S. lentus, S. vitulinus, S. fleurettii and S. stepanovicii (Becker et al, 2014a), which are in general considered as commensal animal-associated species (Kloos et al, 1976). S. sciuri possesses a certain pathogenic potential and is able to induce infections in both, animals (Frey et al, 2013;Dos Santos et al, 2015) and humans (Stepanovic et al, 2003). Some isolates of the S. sciuri group are known to carry different homologues of the methicillin resistance genes mecA, B and C and display methicillin/oxacillin resistance (Becker et al, 2014a,b;Harrison et al, 2014).…”

Isolation and Molecular Characterization of Staphylococcus sciuri in the Hospital Environment

“…S. sciuri may be found as a colonizing organism in humans, with low carrier rates in the nasopharynx, skin, and urogenital tract (8,30,31). The clinical relevance of S. sciuri in humans appears to be increasing, since the bacterium has been associated with various infections, such as endocarditis (12), peritonitis (35), septic shock (13), urinary tract infection (30), endophthalmitis (3), pelvic inflammatory disease (31), and, most frequently, wound infections (17,25,28).…”