Genetically closely related skin bacteria that have developed resistance to several different antibiotics and that can cause intractable care-related infections are found and seem to be spreading within and between hospitals in Sweden. This is established by Micael Widerström in the doctoral dissertation he is defending at Umeå University in Sweden.
Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are bacteria that belong to the protective bacterial flora on the skin and seldom cause infections in healthy individuals. However, CNS, and especially Staphylococcus epidermidis, are a common cause of care-related infections, in particular infections following various types of prosthetic surgery. These infections are often difficult to treat, as certain strains of S. epidermidis have become resistant to most antibiotics (multi-resistant), and has a capacity to fasten on and form a so-called biofilm around catheters and inserted prostheses.
In his dissertation work, Micael Widerström found genetically closely related strains of multi-resistant S. epidermidis, in hospital patients from most of the eleven northern European hospitals studied, eight of them in Sweden. These closely related strains could not be found among healthy individuals in the community. The findings indicate that S. epidermidis, which has a special capacity to adapt to hospital environments, seems to be spreading within and between Swedish hospitals.