Late-onset sepsis due to Staphylococcus capitis 'neonatalis' in low-birthweight infants: a new entity?

During hospitalization, sepsis occurs in one of every five very-low-birthweight infants. The emergence of Staphylococcus capitis (SC)-related sepsis in preterm infants was observed recently. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical severity of SC-related sepsis in preterm infants. Of the 105 infants who presented with sepsis related to coagulase-negative staphylococci, 74 were SC. Severe morbidity was more common in the SC group (55.4%) than in the non-SC coagulase-negative staphylococci group (32.0%) (P=0.03). Multi-variate analysis identified SC-related sepsis as an independent risk factor for severe morbidity.