Microbiological and Molecular Genetic Characteristics of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcal Isolates from Neonates in Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

The problem of hospital-acquired infections due to coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) in neonatal intensive care units is crucial over the last 20 years in the world. Neonates with very low or extremely low body weight belong to a special group of risks by the CoNS infection. However, in Russia CoNS up to now are frequently considered as contaminants and not as the main etiologic factors of pneumonia and sepsis in extremely premature infants. It was shown that hospital strains of CoNS causing fatal infections in extremely premature infants are always present in intensive care units.

Keywords

• neonatal intensive care units
• infections
• coagulase-nagative staphylococci
• pathogenicity factors
• clonality