Biofilm production is an important mechanism that allows microbes to escape host defences and antimicrobial therapy. Vancomycin has been used largely for the treatment of methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections. Here, we determined the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) for 82 Staphylococcus species isolated from central venous catheters (CVC). Our results showed that the 41 strong and moderate-biofilm-producing isolates presented a higher MBEC/MIC ratio for vancomycin than the 24 weak-biofilm-producing isolates, illustrating the importance of biofilm production ability and the difficulty in treating biofilm-related infections. The MBEC was significantly higher in moderate-biofilm-producing isolates than in weak-biofilm-producing isolates (p < 0.001) and in strong-biofilm-producing isolates than in weak-biofilm-producing isolates (p = 0.001). The correlation between the MIC and the MBEC was poor. Based on our results, we recommend that bacterial biofilms be suspected in all cases of CVC infection.

Automated instruments offer many advantages for clinical laboratories. Nevertheless, they can have problems identifying and determining susceptibilities of some pathogens. Vitek® 2 (bioMérieux) is an automated system that was recently introduced to Brazil. We evaluated the performance of this equipment for Brazilian isolates that had been characterized using reference identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods. Ninety-nine strains of Gram-positive cocci from a local reference center collection were analyzed, consisting of 50 coagulasenegative Staphylococcus (CoNS) and 49 Enterococcus and related species. Vitek® 2 correctly identified 79.8% (79/99) of the isolates. Oxacillin resistance was detected in 76% (19/25) of resistant S. epidermidis strains and in 88% (22/25) of other resistant CoNS species strains. Vancomycin resistance was detected in 100% (20/20) of resistant Enterococcus and related species strains. Vitek® 2 performed very well for the identification of S. epidermidis and non-epidermidis staphylococci, and for the detection of vancomycin resistance in Enterococcus and related species. However, the system needs improvement in order to provide reliable results for the characterization of some CoNS species, identification of Enterococcus and related species and for detecting oxacillin resistance in CoNS.

The NCCLS (2004) presented a new methodology to detect, by disk-diffusion agar, oxacillin-resistance using a cefoxitin disk. We identified coagulase-negative staphylococci (SCoN) to the species level and compared the use of cefoxitin disks (30 µg) with oxacillin disks (1 µg), agar dilution (minimum inhibitory concentration of oxacillin) and mecA gene detection in isolates of coagulase-negative bacteria other than Staphylococcus epidermidis (SCoNne). A total of 238 SCoNne was evaluated; oxacillin-resistance (the mecA gene) was detected in 71% of the isolates. All methods gave 100% sensitivity, based on presence of the mecA gene. The specificity of the cefoxitin disk was 100%, while the oxacillin disk gave a specificity of 91% and agar dilution oxacillin gave a specificity of 88%. We conclude that the cefoxitin disk is an efficient test, and it is an easy method for use in clinical laboratories to detect oxacillin-resistance in staphylococci.

Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. was considered nonpathogenic until the emergence of multiresistance and the demonstration of their participation as infectious agents. In Brazil, oxacillin resistance may be present in over 80% of isolates, and the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute standardized a disk-diffusion method to predict this resistance in Staphylococcus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the variability among commercial disks of oxacillin (1 µg) and cefoxitin (30 µg) widely used in clinical laboratories of microbiology, compared with mecA gene and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of oxacillin. The use of oxacillin and cefoxitin disks simultaneously allowed the detection of important differences, particularly, in less frequent species such as S. cohnii, S. haemolyticus, S. saprophyticus, and S. sciuri. Disks of cefoxitin of the brand 2 displayed good correlation with the mecA gene (98.7%) and oxacillin MIC (97.8%), while major discrepancies were observed using disks of brand 1. One of the critical points in the diffusion disk test is the quality of the disks: the use of better quality disks associated with molecular methods lead to better results to define the best antibiotic therapy.

According to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS, 2004), a method to evaluate the inducible clindamycin resistance in accordance with an approach of the disks of erythromycin and clindamycin - the D test - has been reported. We analyzed the performance of this method in 200 coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS) strains obtained from blood cultures of hospitalized patients at a general hospital in Southern Brazil. Twenty-seven clinical isolates with suitable profile (erythromycin-resistant and clindamycin-susceptible) were evaluated for the D test realization. Thus, only 5 CoNS were D test positive. The D test method showed to be simple and an important technique in the detection of inducible clindamycin resistance.