[Absence of distinctive characteristics between Staphylococcus epidermidis strains responsible of non-hospital infectious endocarditis and commensal strains]. / Absence de caractères distinctifs entre des souches de Staphylococcus epidermidis responsables d'endocardites infectieuses non hospitalières et des souches commensales.

ABSTRACT

In order to recognize particular characteristics of pathogenic strains, epidemiologic markers of 27 Staphylococcus epidermidis strains (9 pathological and 18 commensal) were studied. Nine strains were responsible of infective endocarditis (8 on native valves, and 1 on prosthetic valve). No case occurred after admission to hospital or surgery. Eighteen commensal strains were isolated from control subjects who had had no contact with the hospital environment and who had not received a recent antibiotic treatment. The microbiological characteristics were so diverse that no differentiation between the pathogenic strains and commensal strains could be done and no particular pathogenic clone was recognized.