Recurrent ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection caused by small-colony variants of Staphylococcus aureus

Phenotypic variants of Staphylococcus aureus may be misidentified by routine microbiological methods, and they may also respond poorly to antibacterial treatment. Using molecular methods, we identified small-colony variants of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (which were misidentified by 3 widely used automated identification systems as methicillin-susceptible coagulase-negative staphylococci) as the cause of recurrent ventriculoperitoneal shunt-related meningitis.