TABLE 3.
Frequency of atypical strains among 198 staphylococcal isolates as determined by 22 tests of the reference method
| Species (total no. of strains) | No. (%) of atypical strains identified with the biochemical testa:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CG | HEM | CF | PYR | URE | FOS | MAN | MAT | TRE | LAC | MAL | SUC | RIB | CEL | XYL | ORN | ARG | NIT | ACT | NOV | DEF | POL | |
| S. epidermidis (69) | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 6 (8.7) | 2 (2.9) | 5 (7.2) | 5 (7.2) | 3 (4.3) | 1 (1.4) | 0 | 1 (1.4) | − | 4 (5.8) | 4 (5.8) | − | − | 7 (10.1) | 4 (5.8) | 1 (1.4) | 0 | 5 (7.2) |
| S. haemolyticus (44) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 (6.8) | − | 2 (4.5) | − | 0 | 1 (2.3) | − | 0 | 1 (2.3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 (27.3) | 0 | 2 (4.5) | 13 (29.5) |
| S. aureus (17) | 0 | 2 (11.8) | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 1 (5.9) | 1 (5.9) | 1 (5.9) | 0 | 1 (5.9) | 1 (5.9) | 1 (5.9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (5.9) | 0 | 1 (5.9) | 0 |
| S. hominis subsp. hominis (16) | 0 | 1 (6.3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (12.5) | 3 (18.8) | 2 (12.5) | − | − | 1 (6.3) | 0 | 2 (12.5) | 1 (6.3) | 0 | 0 | − | − | − | 0 | 0 | 2 (12.5) |
| S. hominis subsp. novobiosepticus (9) | 0 | 1 (11.1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | − | 0 | 0 | − |
| S. saprophyticus subsp. saprophyticus (8) | 0 | 1 (12.5) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (25) | 0 | − | 4 (50) |
| S. warneri (7) | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (14.3) | − | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | − | 2 (28.6) | 0 | 0 | 6 (85.7) |
| S. lugdunensis (6) | 0 | 0 | 1 (16.7) | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (16.7) | 1 (16.7) | 0 | 1 (16.7) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (16.7) | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | − |
| S. capitis subsp. capitis (6) | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (16.7) | 0 | 0 | 3 (50) | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | − | − | 0 | − | 2 (33.3) |
| S. cohnii subsp. urealyticus (4) | 0 | − | 0 | − | 0 | 1 (25) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 (75) | 2 (50) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (25) | 1 (25) | − | 0 | − | 2 (50) |
| S. sciuri (4) | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | − | − | 0 | 0 | − | − | 0 | 1 (25) | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | 3 (75) |
| S. xylosus (4) | 0 | 2 (50) | 0 | − | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | − | − | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | − | 0 | − | 0 |
| S. capitis subsp. urealyticus (3) | 0 | − | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 (100) | − | 0 | 1 (33.3) | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. cohnii subsp. cohnii (1) | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | − | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | − | 0 | − | 0 |
| Total (198) | 0 (0.0) | 7 (3.5) | 1 (0.5) | 0 (0.0) | 6 (3) | 5 (2.5) | 12 (6.1) | 9 (4.5) | 9 (4.5) | 3 (1.5) | 5 (2.5) | 7 (3.5) | 6 (3) | 6 (3) | 5 (2.5) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (1.5) | 8 (4) | 21 (10.6) | 1 (0.5) | 3 (1.5) | 37 (18.7) |
a
CG, coagulase; HEM, hemolysin; CF, clumping factor; URE, urease; FOS, alkaline phosphatase; MAN, d-mannose, MAT, d-mannitol; TRE, d-trehalose; LAC, α-lactose; MAL, maltose; SUC, sucrose; RIB, d-ribose; CEL, d-cellobiose; XYL, d-xylose; ORN, ornithine decarboxylase; ARG, arginine decarboxylase; NIT, nitrate reduction; ACT, acetoin production; NOV, novobiocin susceptibility; DEF, desferrioxamine susceptibility; POL, polymyxin B susceptibility; −, variable biochemical profile for the test (11 to 89% of positive strains according to Bannerman [3]).