Staphylococcus lugdunensis - Not the Average Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcus Species

Staphylococcus lugdunensis is an unusually virulent coagulase-negative staphylococcal species with unique clinical and microbiological properties. S. lugdunensis is a skin commensal, as well as a pathogen with a propensity to cause highly aggressive and destructive infections that clinically resemble those caused by Staphylococcus aureus, including native valve endocarditis. Aside from endocarditis, S. lugdunensis infections include skin and soft tissue infection and prosthetic joint infection. Some isolates produce a membrane-bound form of coagulase that may result in misidentification of S. lugdunensis as S. aureus in the clinical laboratory. Unlike other coagulase-negative staphylococci, S. lugdunensis is usually susceptible to most antimicrobial agents, lacks mecA, and shares CLSI antimicrobial susceptibility breakpoints for oxacillin with S. aureus. The virulence factors that contribute to the heightened pathogenicity of S. lugdunensis remain largely undetermined. Recent studies indicate that S. lugdunensis can bind to host tissues or prosthetic surfaces and form biofilms.