Case report

Vertebral osteomyelitis and native valve endocarditis due to Staphylococcus simulans: a case report

Natalia Vallianou , Angelos Evangelopoulos , Polyxeni Makri , Georgios Zacharias , Panagiota Stefanitsi , Athanasios Karachalios and Peter C Avgerinos

Department of Internal Medicine, Polykliniki General Hospital, Athens, Greece

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Medical Case Reports 2008, 2:183doi:10.1186/1752-1947-2-183

Published:	29 May 2008

Abstract

Background

Staphylococcus simulans is a common animal pathogen that occasionally can colonize human skin. Unlike other coagulase-negative staphylococci, S. simulans tends to cause more severe infections that resemble those caused by S. aureus. We present a case of vertebral osteomyelitis and endocarditis due to S. simulans. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of vertebral osteomyelitis associated with native valve endocarditis rather than orthopedic surgery.

Case presentation

A 46-year-old male butcher was admitted to the hospital with a 4-week history of high fever with profound sweating. He reported weakness in his legs and low back pain that compromised his walking ability. Blood cultures yielded Gram-positive cocci on Gram stain. These cocci were identified to the species level as S. simulans, a coagulase-negative staphylococcus. The patient was treated with antibiotics, which were discontinued after 6 months.

Conclusion

This case illustrates the importance of identifying coagulase-negative staphylococci to the species level. Accurate identification of S. simulans would further help investigations defining its pathogenic role in human infections.