[Production of slime by coagulase-negative staphylococci as a marker of systemic infection in newborn infants].

We studied 310 strains of Staphylococcus spp. from neonates admitted in intensive care unit from june 1988 to may 1990, with the purpose of establishing a relationship between the slime production and the occurrence of sepsis. The original technique for its determination was modified; this facilitated the performance and the reading of results. Of 105 neonates with isolation in blood, spinal fluid and/or intravascular catheter of negative-coagulase Staphylococcus (CNS), the incidence of sepsis was 57.9% when the strain was a slime-producer, and only 11.6% when the strain did not produce slime (p less than 0.001). The risk of infection was five-fold increased when the isolated was slime-producer CNS. We proved a high predictive value when the strains were identical and isolated from two samples, one of which was blood. These results show that the production of slime is a factor which strongly support the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis due to negative-coagulase Staphylococcus.